Show Notes
On today’s show, we are tackling what is possibly the biggest challenge facing global health right now: funding. Host Henry Bonsu speaks with Indonesia Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin about how he approaches multilateral organizations for financing, as well as his vision for Indonesia. Sadikin was also a longtime banker before going into government.
Then, Bonsu talks with Dr. Ngozi Erondu, the technical director of GLIDE, the Global Institute for Disease Elimination. Erondu participated in the first-ever Africa Health Sovereignty Summit this year in Accra, with African government officials and global health partners. They strategized about how to redefine Africa’s role in its own health future—including shifting from external donors towards self-reliance. Erondu explains why she is optimistic about this initiative.
The Threshold is made possible in part through funding from the Gates Foundation.
Guests and organizations:
Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia Minister of Health
Dr. Ngozi Erondu, Technical Director of GLIDE, the Global Institute for Disease Elimination.
More from The Threshold
We hosted a live virtual podcast taping of The Threshold on World Neglected Tropical Disease Day. Host Henry Bonsu spoke with Sabena Solomon, GSK vice president and head of global health access, and Sam Macintosh, the END Fund’s vice president of global strategic partnerships, about pharmaceutical companies’ unique role in the fight to end NTDs. Since 2000, dozens of countries have eliminated at least one NTD. This is in part thanks to pharmaceutical industry partners, who have donated over 30 billion tablets and vials toward ending NTDs. During this special event, which was made possible through funding from the Gates Foundation, we explored what is needed in this current moment to keep the momentum towards ending neglected tropical diseases.
In our season finale of The Threshold, we delve into what it will take to end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which impact about 1.5 billion people. The World Health Organization considers 21 diseases to be NTDs, a classification that marks a disease as underfunded and prioritized relative to its burden. What is encouraging is that a growing number of neglected tropical diseases are closer than ever to being eliminated.
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