Global Health Matters episode 68: June 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."
Dialogues: a conversation with Amani Ballour on conflict, courage and accountability
Dear listener,
Dialogues is a series from the Global Health Matters podcast where we bring you interviews featuring fresh perspectives on global health issues. The goal of each Dialogues episode is to break through the echo chambers that exist in global health through in-depth, thoughtful conversations.
In this episode of Dialogues, we learn how courage can turn a hospital basement into a symbol of defiance. Host Garry Aslanyan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/garry-aslanyan] is joined by Dr Amani Ballour, a Syrian paediatrician and the first female doctor of a hospital in a Syrian war zone. For six years, she worked in an underground hospital, treating the wounded, the starving and the survivors of chemical attacks. She tells her story in her memoir, The Cave. Her story has also been told in an Academy Award-nominated documentary. She currently serves as Programme Advocacy Officer at the Syrian American Medical Society and as an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She has also briefed the UN Security Council on the humanitarian crisis in Syria. In this conversation, we hear about her first-hand experiences, explore what it means to keep a hospital functional under siege, and ask what accountability must look like for those who target health workers.
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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