Global Health Matters episode 73: August 2026
The Global Health Matters podcast Global Health Matters [https://tdr.who.int/global-health-matters-podcast] is the podcast from TDR featuring renowned experts as well as emerging voices from across the globe, with a focus on sharing perspectives from low- and middle-income countries. The podcast includes our Signature episodes as well as "Dialogues," "Trailblazers with Garry" and "The Inside Track."
Leading to zero
Dear listener,
In global health, control means keeping a disease in check and accepting that some cases will remain. Zero is a different proposition altogether: it demands that every village, every community and every child is equally worth reaching. Only smallpox has ever been eradicated, and the diseases closest to that line are held back by conflict, funding pressure and fading public memory. So what does it take to lead an effort all the way to zero? How is commitment sustained across decades and changing governments? And what happens the day after certification, when the vector remains and imported cases still arrive?
In this episode, host Garry Aslanyan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/garry-aslanyan/] explores these questions with two guests who bring deeply complementary perspectives. Jamal Ahmed [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamal-a-ahmed-45777476/] is WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office Director for Polio Eradication and former Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's Strategy Committee, and has spent his career in polio eradication, from surveillance and laboratory systems to programme implementation. And joining him is Stephen Vreden [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen-Vreden], Chair of the Committee for the Prevention of Re-establishment of Malaria in Suriname. The country was certified malaria-free by WHO in June 2025, the first country in the Amazon region to reach that milestone.
We hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we do. Please share it with anyone interested in global health. We also love receiving your feedback, so feel free to write to us or send a video or voice message.
Best regards,
The Global Health Matters podcast team
TDRpod@who.int [mailto:tdrpo@who.int]
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