LSHTM Viral

Healthy and sustainable diets are essential for planetary health. Poor diets are a leading cause of ill health and death globally, and the food system is responsible for between 20% and 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. On-going environmental changes are also having a direct impact on food production, and without substantial efforts to adapt to the new environmental conditions, the food syst...

Welcome to LSHTM Viral Season 2, which deep dives into planetary health with researchers from the newly formed Centre on Climate Change & Planetary Health at LSHTM, and other experts. In this episode we introduce the podcast team, Naomi Stewart, Karl Byrne and Amy Thomas. Sir Andy Haines, former director of LSHTM, also joins us to explain how the term planetary health came about, and why he be...

In this bonus episode, we speak to Prof Heidi Larson, Director of the 'Vaccine Confidence Project'. Heidi and her team have just published a 5 year study looking at public confidence in vaccines worldwide across 149 countries. She discusses increases and declines in confidence, and what can be done to understand these different views in order to increase confidence and optimise vaccine uptake, whi...

In our final episode of LSHTM Viral's first season, we dive into the history of pandemics and public health in the last few centuries, from the bubonic plague to AIDS and H1N1. Researchers from the Centre for History in Public Health explore how COVID-19 fits into this history, and how the past has shaped how we are responding to the crisis now.

For World Mosquito Day 2020, we explore the impact of COVID-19 on malaria control and prevention. A recent report from WHO says the continued disruption to malaria prevention could revert mortality to levels seen two decades ago. In this episode we speak to Prof of Epidemiology and Global Health, Sian Clarke, Co-Director of the Malaria Centre at LSHTM and Dr Corine Ngufor, Assistant Prof of M...

COVID-19 cases are starting to rise across Africa. Researchers at The MRC Unit The Gambia, LSHTM, have developed a COVID-19 rumour tracking app to combat rumours and misinformation about COVID-19 circulating amongst the populations in The Gambia and neighbouring Senegal. Social Scientific Lead Dr Melisa Martinez-Alvarez, and Social Scientific Officer Lamin Leigh explain why the tracking app is nee...

We bring you our fourth live Covid-19 Q&A, broadcast on Twitter and YouTube on 28 July with Professor Peter Piot, Director of LSHTM, Dr John Nkengasong, first Director of Africa CDC and presented by Sarah Boseley, Health Editor at The Guardian.

Next Tuesday 28th July we are hosting our fourth COVID-19 Live Q&A with Peter Piot, Director of LSHTM, and John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC. Join our Q&A streamed on LSHTM’s Twitter and YouTube channels to ask your questions direct to world-leading experts with moderation by Sarah Boseley, Health Editor at The Guardian.

It has now been six months since the first case of COVID-19 was announced in China. There are over 10.5 million infections worldwide, and tragically 500,000 deaths. We listen back to our very first episode with LSHTM's Prof John Edmunds in January, where he acknowledges the likelihood of the disease arriving in the UK, the  day before the first case was announced.

The way people act and behave inside health clinics can impact the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19, TB and Ebola. Understanding how this happens is essential for effective, long-lasting public health solutions. We speak to Alison Swartz, Aaron Karat and Karina Kielmann who work through a 'systems approach' that includes social science, anthropology and epidemiology in infection prevent...

Efforts to curb the devastating effects of COVID-19 have halted the global economy and left governments striving to repair the damage. As we tackle the global recession in the wake of this pandemic, there’s a unique opportunity to push ahead on sustainabl e policies for our future. Sir Andy Haines, previous director of LSHTM and Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health explains how...

As the momentum behind Black Lives Matter and placing social justice before social distancing grows worldwide, we speak to Dr Lioba Hirsch, a Research Fellow  who is studying the colonial history of LSHTM. Dr Hirsch walks us through some of the challenges faced by Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people during COVID-19, what the impact of racism within healthcare systems looks like, and how...

Amidst the tragic headlines, we look at highlights from our previous LSHTM Viral episodes to reflect on the global efforts to protect those most vulnerable to disease and health burdens.

In this episode we speak to Professor Beate Kampmann, Director of the The Vaccine Centre at LSHTM. We ask Beate about the latest progress in finding a vaccine for COVID-19 and discuss the challenges of producing one on such an enormous scale. Vaccine candidate tracker:  bit.ly/2BbkJ09

Medical detection dogs have previously been able to sniff out malaria, cancer, Parkinson's, and other disease. Could they now be trained to detect COVID-19? Prof James Logan of LSHTM discusses the current research under way with Clare Guest of Medical Detection Dogs and Prof Steve Lindsay of Durham University, and how puppers may be deployed at airports and other ports of entry to identify people...

In his first interview since being hospitalised with COVID-19, LSHTM Director and world-leading virologist Peter Piot gives a personal account of his experience with the novel coronavirus. He shares lessons learned from his work on Ebola and HIV, the role of survivors in the COVID-19 response, and his renewed mission for tackling the pandemic.

Broadcast on 1 May, we ran a third live Q&A session with two of our infectious disease modelling experts, Professor John Edmunds and Dr Petra Klepac of LSHTM. John and Petra answer on a range of topics proposed by the audience including how modelling provides evidence to COVID-19 policy, modelling the lockdown exit in the UK, ideal data sets and limitations of modelling an outbreak. To watch t...

Without their social networks and the same understanding of the pandemic as adults, children may be struggling with their mental health and well-being during COVID-19. Professor James Logan from LSHTM has recently co-authored a book with illustrator Lydia Monk to help children and parents cope with coronavirus, and together with child psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, discusses how to manage the...

What do we know about the impact of viruses on pregnancy? Can vaccine trials involve pregnant women? And how has the process of labour changed in light of COVID-19? We discuss all of this and more with maternal and newborn health expert, Professor Joy Lawn of LSHTM.

Human health is influenced by earth’s natural systems, the wildlife around us, and the environment we create. The spread of infectious diseases may be linked climate factors and animals, but the consequences can tell us even more about the health of people, and of our planet. In this episode, Dr Rachel Lowe, Associate Professor in infectious diseases and Professor Alan Dangour, Director for the Ce...

Is Africa the new COVID-19 epicentre? Professor Francesco Checchi of LSHTM discusses his latest paper, using mathematical modelling to look at what can be done in low-resource settings across the continent, and how to protect the most vulnerable populations without the human and economic costs of total lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting each country differently. Healthcare structures, the government and the characteristics of a particular population create unique challenges that require a tailored response. Dr Mishal Khan and Professor Rashida Ferrand from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explain key issues that Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMICs) are facing, and Dr Abdu...

Can the world work together to find COVID-19 treatments and vaccines? We speak with Professor Dan Bausch, a physician and virologist specialising in emerging tropical viruses, and Director of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team. He shares insights into new international collaborations that aim to harmonise clinical trials and research to end the pandemic worldwide.

Streaming remotely from our homes, we bring you another live COVID-19 Q&A, broadcast on Twitter and YouTube on 25 March 2020. Heidi Larson, an anthropologist and Professor of Risk and Decision Science at LSHTM, and Jimmy Whitworth, Professor of International Public Health at LSHTM, answer questions from social media in real-time.

Is hand-washing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19? In this episode, LSHTM professor Wendy Graham joins Prof Stephanie Dancer from NHS Lanarkshire to explain the science behind hand-washing and give tips on keeping clean during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Sam Tweed, a medical doctor studying public health at LSHTM, makes a special guest appearance to demonstrate how to clean a surface cor...