ABOUT THIS EPISODE
In this episode we talk to epidemiologist Ramanan Laxminarayan about what ails India's health. He makes the case that the biggest threat is the silent spread of noncommunicable disease, and that India is good at health events, but weak at the unglamorous, sustained work of public health. The conversation moves through eradication and elimination, dengue, climate extremes and heat, Nipah and bats, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It closes with his new book, Bacteria to Buddha, and an argument that cooperation and connection are what make humans solvable-problem people.
RAMANAN LAXMINARAYAN is founder and president of the One Health Trust, a senior research scholar at Princeton University, and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington. He is also senior associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Antimicrobial Resistance. The One Health Trust was founded as the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP). He is a fellow of AAAS and the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has advised US presidential antibiotic-resistance panels.
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramanan-laxminarayan-7853833/
BOOK:
Bacteria to Buddha: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=bacteria+to+buddha
Excerpt: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/bacteria-to-buddha-read-an-exclusive-excerpt-from-ramanan-laxminarayan-s-new-book-101790935708968.html
Interview: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/micros-scope-a-wknd-chat-with-epidemiologist-ramanan-laxminarayan-101790935657743.html
MAJOR TALKS:
The coming crisis in antibiotics: https://www.ted.com/talks/ramanan_laxminarayan_the_coming_crisis_in_antibiotics
How a medical miracle turned into a global threat (NPR): https://www.npr.org/transcripts/421490567
One Health Trust podcast: https://onehealthtrust.org/news-media/podcasts/the-one-health-trusts-new-center-a-new-concept-using-age-old-insights/
SELECTED WRITINGS:
Choosing health: An entitlement for all Indians: https://onehealthtrust.org/publications/archive/choosing-health-entitlement-all-indians/
Safe tap water as the true measure of health: https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/drinking-water-from-the-tap-as-a-true-measure-for-development-101766691298367.html
On tackling antimicrobial resistance (Lancet): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38797178/
Expanding antibiotic, vaccine and diagnostics development: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00878-X/abstract
Disease control priorities: Improving health and reducing poverty: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30212058/
Stop delaying action on AMR (Nature): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02993-3
Climate change and AMR: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-026-01285-z
The overlooked pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (Lancet): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35065701/
The Lancet series on AMR: https://www.thelancet.com/series-do/antibiotic-resistance
The climate game India cannot afford to lose: https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/the-climate-game-india-cannot-afford-to-lose-101776426575099.html
India's antibiotic crisis has a vaccine solution: https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/indias-antibiotic-crisis-has-a-vaccine-solution-101778169680761.html
What the National Family Health Survey does not tell us: https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/what-india-refuses-to-register-101780649562302.html
Complete archive of articles published in the Hindustan Times: https://www.hindustantimes.com/author/ramanan-laxminarayan-101672929458985
Background: On the One Health programme: https://www.who.int/health-topics/one-health#tab=tab_1
Background: WHO fact-sheet on the Nipah virus: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/nipah-virus
Google Scholar for comprehensive list of his publications: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ramanan+Laxminarayan
RELATED PODCASTS:
Roxy Koll on climate change, El Nino and health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9p4dUO7O8&t=4450s
Dr Soumya Swaminathan on health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSevz02FYwo&t=4s
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