Better Off

In this week’s episode: encouraging news about America’s battle against diabetes, plus why C-sections can tell you a lot about a country’s health care system, and a closer look at the fight to reduce cases of Pediatric HIV/AIDS.

In this episode we're marking a major public health milestone. As of Monday, June 18, U.S. food manufacturers are banned from creating products with artificial trans fats—found in partially hydrogenated oils. This ban is the culmination of decades of research and work, and we'll explore how these fats became such a mainstay in American foods, the work to expose their risks, and the public health impact of eliminating them. You'll hear from two experts who were on the front lines of the battle against trans fats: Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Michael Jacobson, senior scientist and former executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

A recent report published in The Lancet finds that health systems in sub-Saharan Africa are largely unprepared to deal with that region’s rapidly expanding epidemic of diabetes. According to the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission nearly a quarter of adults in some countries now have diabetes, but only half of those with diabetes are diagnosed, and of those, only 1 in 10 are receiving treatment. More than 90% of cases of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa are type 2 diabetes, suggesting that modifiable risk factors are major contributors to the burden of disease. In this week’s podcast we’ll speak with Rifat Atun, professor of global health systems at Harvard Chan School and one of three lead authors of the report. Atun will explain what’s driving this rapid increase in diabetes and what health systems can do to respond effectively.

In part two of our series on climate change and health we explore ways to communicate effectively about the issue. What can be done to convince skeptics? And we'll explain why empathy might be the key to shifting the conversation.

In this week’s episode: A new study finds that induced labor is not linked with autism risk, plus the global rise in the use of air conditioning, and how our jobs impact our health.