When buying medication, we don't usually ask ourselves, "Is this going to be effective?" or "Is it safe?" Yet all over the world, people worry about the quality of health products and care they get. And rightly so. Follow our researchers as they fight this injustice, and discover "the canary in the coal mine" of our health care system.

For more information on Transmission, go to www.itg.be/podcast.

This episode features:

Lenka Beňová, maternal health expert, Head of the Unit of Maternal and Reproductive Health (ITM)

Raffaella Ravinetto, pharmacy expert, Head of Department of Public Health (ITM)

Christelle Boyi Honsou, medical doctor and researcher, Centre of Research in Human Reproduction and Demography (CERRHUD), Benin

To learn more about ITM's research on sustainable health systems, visit www.itg.be/health-systems

Strategy & Creation: Onlyhumans

Creation & Production: Sonhouse

Racism, conflict, lack of funding, transportation issues, lifestyle or stigma: there are a lot of factors that can keep people from getting the care and medication they need. In this episode, we explore those hurdles all over the world, taking you from Belgium to Zambia.

For more information on Transmission, go to www.itg.be/podcast.

This episode features:

Lenka Beňová, maternal health expert, Head of the Unit of Maternal and Reproductive Health (ITM)

Christopher Kenyon, medical doctor and STI expert, Head of the Unit of Sexually Transmitted Infections (ITM)

Saleh Aljadeeah, pharmacist and researcher, Unit of Pharmaceutical Public Health (ITM)

Raffaella Ravinetto, pharmacy expert, Head of Department of Public Health (ITM)

Bernadette (Bernie) Hensen, epidemiologist, Head of the Unit of Sexual health including HIV (ITM)

Prashanth N Srinivas, medical doctor and researcher, Head of Institute of Public Health (IPH) in Bengaluru, India

Tim Devriese, journalist

To learn more about ITM's research on sustainable health systems, visit www.itg.be/health-systems

Strategy & Creation: Onlyhumans

Creation & Production: Sonhouse

If we imagine a health system as a box, then what would it contain? And what happens if it gets shaken – by a conflict, a pandemic or even something as seemingly unrelated as structural traffic jams? Join us, as we travel from the Syrian war zone to a remote Indian community fighting addiction... with frisbees.

For more information on Transmission, go to www.itg.be/podcast.

This episode features:

Lenka Beňová, maternal health expert, Head of the Unit of Maternal and Reproductive Health (ITM)

Bruno Marchal, health care organisation specialist, Head of the Unit of Health Systems Organisation  (ITM)

Christopher Kenyon, medical doctor and STI expert, Head of the Unit of Sexually Transmitted Infections (ITM)

Saleh Aljadeeah, pharmacist and researcher, Unit of Pharmaceutical Public Health (ITM)

Prashanth N Srinivas, medical doctor and researcher, Head of Institute of Public Health (IPH) in Bengaluru, India

Tim Devriese, journalist

To learn more about ITM's research on sustainable health systems, visit www.itg.be/health-systems

Strategy & Creation: Onlyhumans

Creation & Production: Sonhouse

Narrator: Lara Chedraoui

Welcome to Transmission, season 2, by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. We invite you to join our researchers in their never-ending quest for a healthier world. This journey will take them all the way from war zones to tribal communities, to tackle pressing issues like the lack of access to life-saving drugs, the stigma around HIV, maternal deaths, and low-quality medicines.

When it comes to the next pandemic, the question is not "if" but "when". In this compelling episode, you will meet the most likely candidates for the next outbreak, and find out how well-prepared we are for it.

Why do or don't we follow advice from healthcare professionals and authorities? What have previous outbreaks taught us about this "human factor"? Follow our researchers as they pitch their tent under snake-filled trees and talk to people in remote villages to get answers to the most pressing health questions.

Meet the members of the Outbreak Research Team. Follow in the footsteps of the most talented scientists as they travel the world to get a grasp on global health challenges, or toil away in hi-tech labs to solve the complex riddles that come with new infectious diseases.

(c) The news broadcasts at the beginning of this episode were taken from VRT-Beeldarchief. The audio interview with Isabel Brosius was broadcast in "Laat" on 19 May 2022.

To listen to the full season, or to get more information on Transmission, go to www.itg.be/podcast.

Listen to real-life stories from the frontlines of the fight against Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases. Get ready to learn more about where outbreaks start and why, and how viruses evolve, leaping from animals to humans.