LSHTM Viral – Details, episodes & analysis

Join Amy and Karl as they reflect on the LSHTM Viral season 3. They discuss how far have we come with vaccinations worldwide and key takeaways from the expert discussions throughout the season. Thank you to all the experts who appeared on the podcast and the dedicated LSHTM Viral listeners that helped LSHTM Viral win a Gold CASE Award for Digital Communications (Frequent Podcast Category). Goodbye for now!

In this episode of LSHTM Viral, Karl Byrne speaks with Beate Kampmann, Professor of Paediatric Infection & Immunity and Director of the Vaccine Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. They delve into the future of vaccines, our perception of risk and how vaccination programmes are going to be monitored in the future. Beate answers burning audience questions including, “Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for pregnant women?”.

You can find the LSHTM vaccine tracker here: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_vaccine_landscape/

Launching February 23rd 2021

Vaccines are widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements of modern civilization, but how vaccines work, How do you create a vaccine? And perhaps most importantly, how do you produce enough to vaccinate the entire world?

Join Karl Byrne, Amy Thomas and Naomi Stewart every fortnight as they explore the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic and take a deep dive into vaccines and vaccinations.  They will be talking about the latest pandemic news, answering your vaccine questions and speaking to experts from LSHTM and beyond, as they explore the past, present and future of vaccines.

Find out more on our LSHTM podcast website.

How exactly did planetary health come to be, and where is it headed? In this season finale, we speak to two pioneers of the field - Prof Andy Haines of LSHTM and Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet. They discuss the urgency of embedding planetary health into the policy agenda, the benefits of increased public engagement with science during COVID-19, and how to address the inequalities that could hamper our efforts.

Welcome to a special episode of LSHTM Viral! The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with mass national roll out following as early as the next couple of weeks. Karl is joined in this episode by Dr Pauline Paterson, Dr Sadie Bell, and Prof Liam Smeeth of LSHTM, as they take a look at the factors that affect people's confidence and hesitance around vaccines, how the recent news might affect peoples perceptions of vaccines, and discuss some of the logistical and communication challenges that the UK faces in vaccinating the population.

If you would like to get in touch with your questions and comments, we'd love to hear from you!  You can email us: comms@lshtm.ac.uk

We hear a lot about reducing air pollution, but why do we need to? Join Amy, Naomi and Karl exploring the ins and outs of air pollution including, how the particles affect the human body, and where they come from. We turn to new research that uses machine learning, satellite data and on-the-ground monitors to build a highly detailed pollution map of Great Britain, revealing exciting avenues for the future of air pollution and health research. Contributions from LSHTM's Prof Paul Wilkinson and Prof Antonio Gasparrini.

Will climate change make it too hot for humans to live? In today's planetary health episode of LSHTM Viral, we explore the deathly impacts of excess heat driven by global warming. Shakoor Hajat explains what actually happens to our body during heat stress and how that's causing increases in mortality and morbidity worldwide, and Ana Bonell shares a case study from her PhD research on how hot temperatures are affecting pregnant farmers - and their foetuses - in West Africa. Both researchers also explain why, despite the challenges, they are still hopeful.

The links between the environment and infectious diseases are extremely complicated with many factors to consider. With a novel virus like COVID-19, there are still many unknowns. In this episode, we ask expert ecologist, Dr Kris Murray, about the emergence of COVID-19 from bats in the Wuhan food market and how this relates to environmental change. Dr Rachel Lowe enlightens us with the latest evidence on environmental influences on other diseases, and what this could tell us about COVID-19 transmission risk in the future.

From Africa’s meningitis belt to the link between malaria and rice cultivation, and from mosquitoes in the Mekong Delta to mangoes in Mexico, the links between environmental change and infectious diseases are complex and, at times, surprising.

Join Karl Byrne, Amy Thomas and guests as they delve into this fascinating topic.

Karl and Amy chat about the US Presidential election and how it could impact America’s efforts towards curbing climate change going forward. Karl is also joined by Professor Martin Antonio from MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM and LSHTM PhD candidate Kallista Chan to talk about their research on two very different infectious diseases that are affected by environmental changes - bacterial meningitis and malaria - as well as the complex interactions between human impact on the environment and its effects on other diseases.

If you would like to get in touch with the team , you can email us at comms@lshtm.ac.uk

You can find out more about the Centre of Climate Change and Planetary Health here.

What role does the private sector play in achieving sustainable yet nutritious food systems? In today's episode, Naomi Stewart explores the relationship between the private sector and climate change when it comes to the production of food, from small scale farmers to the mass industrialisation of plant-based alternatives.

Our first guest is Francesca Harris, a PhD student at LSHTM who discusses the impacts of farming on water resources in India, and the ways that academia should or could interact with the private sector. Then, we speak to Adam Cheney, a R&D Manager at V2 - an Australian startup looking to develop scalable plant-based protein alternatives - about the perspective of the private sector and their mutual interest in a healthy, sustainable food future.

Find out more about the Centre of Climate Change and Planetary Health.