The Geneva Health Files Podcast

For all our new readers, we have put together a video explaining our work over the last four years. Have a look!

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As Geneva enters into a hectic period of negotiations over the coming months, we have your back bringing you updates from the Pandemic Treaty discussions, and more.

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Tracking global health policy-making in Geneva is tough and expensive. Help us in raising important questions, and in keeping an ear to the ground. Readers paying for our work helps us meet our costs.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

I am happy to bring you the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast.

WHO member states concluded historic negotiations on amending the International Health Regulations (IHR) in June 2024. We bring you an exclusive interview with Dr Ashley Bloomfield from New Zealand, who along with his team at the Working Group to amend the IHR, led these negotiations into consensus.

This episode has been produced by my young colleague Parth Chandna who is part of our annual Fellowship program. Parth is a podcast pro and is helping us bring to life our audio offerings.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email.

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

See previous episodes here.

Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Readers, Listeners,

We are delighted to share the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast!

In this episode we bring you a comprehensive interview with Fatima Hassan, a South African activist and lawyer, whose efforts have forced greater transparency on how contracts were negotiated and how vaccines were procured during COVID-19.

Hassan, is recognized for her work on health and human rights. She leads Health Justice Initiative, a Cape-Town based NGO.

During a visit to Geneva in September 2023, Hassan took the time for us to talk at length about her motivation and efforts on pushing for transparency in vaccine contract negotiations in South Africa.   

We are deeply grateful to her for explaining the many twists and turns in the tenacious advocacy efforts that have established a benchmark on how transparency is fought for and won.

This expansive and timely interview, will hopefully illustrate the consistency of efforts by some civil society actors fighting for accountability in global health, and the sheer power imbalances that underpin this ecosystem.

(See this interview in text that we published earlier: “There is really no moral, legal, justifiable ground for this level of secrecy, you need to bring the light in’’: Fatima Hassan on the Fight for Transparency of COVID-19 Vaccine Contracts)

This episode has been produced by my young colleague Parth Chandna who is part of our annual Fellowship program. Parth is a podcast pro and is helping us bring to life our audio offerings.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email. (See our earlier episodes here.)

Cheers.

Priti

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

Presenting the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast!

In this incisive interview, Peter Sands, who heads The Global Fund - one of the most influential global health agencies - spoke to us earlier this year, sharing his views on financing, climate change and governance matters. As this episode shows, Sands weighs his words as he carefully assesses the many changes in global health.

Also see this interview published in text over the summer: “Some aspects of innovative finance are dressed up to be what they are not": Peter Sands, The Global Fund.

https://genevahealthfiles.substack.com/p/some-aspects-of-innovative-finance?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fpeter%2520sands&utm_medium=reader2

My gratitude to my senior podcast producer, who from behind-the-scenes inspires me with her technical and editorial expertise.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email. (See our earlier episodes here.)

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

I am happy to bring you the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast.

In this episode we try to demystify marathon negotiations in global health underway in Geneva.

I wrote this script keeping my parents in mind, and for people who may not be too familiar with the dynamics of global health politics. I have tried to explain the current negotiations in simpler terms to show how global health policy-making affects everyday life.

We hope you find this useful in getting an overview of the discussions on the reforms towards overhauling the governance of health emergencies.

My gratitude to my senior podcast producer, who from behind-the-scenes inspires me with her technical and editorial expertise.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email. (See our earlier episodes here.)

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

See previous episodes here.

Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

I am happy to bring you the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast continuing with our series on Voices from the Negotiations.

Interviews are an integral part of journalism. But as a former print journalist (those of us who worked for newspapers - they were/are a thing you know), it has been a very interesting experience for me to work with the audio medium.

An in-person interview provides greater richness to the interview process, including, how we as reporters, read body language. Similarly, a podcast elevates an interview by directly putting you in touch with the speakers. It offers an opportunity to witness and reflect on the cadences, the pauses and the choice of words.

In this episode, listen to Roland Driece and Precious Matsoso - the Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body - who are facilitating the discussions and negotiations towards a new Pandemic Accord. This is a timely listen ahead of the INB’s next meeting in early September 2023. (See transcript published earlier and below.)

Also, please accept my apologies for some of the background noise during this interview. I am working on improving how we conduct podcasts. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

This episode has been produced by my young colleague Parth Chandna who is part of our annual Fellowship program. Parth is a podcast pro and is helping us bring to life our audio offerings.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email. (See our earlier episode here.)

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

Read the edited transcript of this interview here that we published a few weeks ago.

See previous episodes here.

Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

I am happy to bring you the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast.

In this episode, diplomats steering the negotiations to amend the International Health Regulations, speak to Geneva Health Files on the method and the meaning of these discussions.

Listen to Abdullah Asiri of Saudi Arabia and Ashley Bloomfield of New Zealand, Co-Chairs of the Working Group for the amendments to the IHR in this insightful interview.

This episode has been produced by my young colleague Parth Chandna who is part of our annual Fellowship program. Parth is a podcast pro and is helping us bring to life our audio offerings.

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email.

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

Read the transcript of this interview here that we published a few weeks ago.

See previous episodes here.

Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Presenting Global Health As Heard On The Street In Geneva.

Dear Readers, Listeners,

I am happy to bring you the next episode of the Geneva Health Files podcast.

Tune in to this episode where we speak to a special guest. Susan K Sell, a renowned academic and a globally acclaimed expert who has shed light on the power imbalances in the politics of intellectual property rights. During her visit to Geneva in July 2022, I had the opportunity to learn more about her perspectives on the TRIPS Waiver discussions at the WTO.

Read the transcript of this interview here that we published a few weeks ago.

Our podcast series have been made possible when a reader, a trained radio journalist, wrote to me offering her production and editorial expertise! It has been a great collaboration built on humor, creativity, intuition, flexibility and lots of enthusiasm!

We are keen on raising resources for continuing with these audio series. Get in touch if you wish to support this podcast from Global Health Geneva.

Listen in, spread the word. Gives us your feedback by simply hitting reply to this email. Or write to me at [email protected].

Cheers.

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

See related episode on the TRIPS waiver here:

COMING SOON: OUR BOOK ON THE TRIPS WAIVER NEGOTIATIONS

Presenting a comprehensive volume capturing the blow-by-blow account of the TRIPS Waiver discussions at the WTO that unfolded during October 2020-June 2022. This is a compilation of 50 stories from Geneva Health Files on the subject.

The book has been put together at the request of several readers of Geneva Health Files, including trade negotiators, academics, and activists. The objective has been to weave together and present the path of these negotiations in a chronological, linear fashion. Nearing 450 pages, the book is being presented as a ready reckoner and a journalistic chronicle of these discussions.

We do hope that this volume will prove to be useful for the different kinds of communities that have followed these discussions in the last two years.

In the interest of time, we decided to self-publish this book to make it easily accessible, just as the discussions on extending the June 2022 ministerial decision to medicines and tests get underway in Geneva in the coming weeks.

Please fill out this form to indicate your interest in getting a paperback version of this book.

We will subsequently share details on where and how to order.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Readers,

Allow me to gently seize the mic.

Two years is a long time in entrepreneurship, but a breathlessly short one in a pandemic news cycle.

Geneva Health Files has now completed its first two years - often the most challenging period for any new initiative. This initiative is not fully financially viable yet. But, we have survived.

Today we are pleased to bring you this podcast, where I recount this journey with my colleague Kaitlyn Green. She has been a reader, and who first volunteered her time when we had just begun.

In this podcast, I share my experience in the production of this newsletter: the wins, the losses, the near-hits and the near-misses. In short, the exhilarating, but often exhausting experience of keeping up with the news, chasing sources, pushing for viability and hopefully, getting wiser in the process.

My heart-felt gratitude to my podcast producer, also a reader, volunteering her time outside of her day job, to help us put this together.

Listen on and tell us what you think!

If you wish to support this podcast series from Global Health Geneva, get in touch with us. We are keen on bringing complex, technical information in an accessible, audio format to our readers and potential listeners.

Best,

Priti

Feel free to write to us: [email protected] or [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

Previous episodes:

Introducing the Geneva Health Files Podcast

Podcast: The Story Of The TRIPS Waiver

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit genevahealthfiles.substack.com/subscribe