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A Shot in the Arm Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Ben Plumley
Welcome to A Shot In The Arm Podcast, where we take a deep dive into the heart of global health. Since our launch in 2019, we've released over 150 episodes that illuminate the intersection of innovation and equity in healthcare. Join me, your host Ben Plumley—a global infectious disease strategist and passionate HIV advocate, along with our expert team of co-hosts, as we engage in compelling, character-driven conversations with a diverse array of guests from around the world. Together, we explore the intricate connections between everyday lives and biomedical research, tackling pressing issues like pandemic preparedness, climate disruption, and the impact of conflict. Tune in as we uncover the stories and insights that shape our collective health narrative, making complex topics both entertaining and accessible. Let's embark on this journey to improve lives, one episode at a time!
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Yesterday50 min
Ben Plumley & Emily Bass on UNAIDS (again), The Global Fund, AI, and more!
Emily Bass and Ben discuss a hectic week in global health, including Ben’s federal site visit at the San Francisco Community Health Center and a Wired report raising questions about DOGE/USAID operator Jeremy Lewin’s credentials and his resignation. They unpack major UNAIDS developments: the Program Coordinating Board recommending transformation rather than sunsetting, and Executive Director Winnie Byanyima stepping down at year’s end, with attention to ECOSOC and interim leadership politics, co-sponsors’ roles, and the value of HIV indicators as a proxy for health-system trust and security. They also cover Mark Dybul’s return as Global Fund executive director, debating concerns about “Americanism,” adapting to new trends, and securing U.S. support, while emphasizing supply chain stability, Wambo, and country ownership. The conversation turns to U.S. midterms, potential congressional investigations into USAID/PEPFAR, the loss of MER data rigor, and deteriorating CDC global capacity, alongside concerns about RFK Jr. and FDA approvals without evidence… All while dressed as Jets from the musical, West Side Story. 00:00 Welcome and Week Check 00:38 Clinic Site Visit Stress 03:07 UNAIDS Future and Leadership 06:28 Why UNAIDS Still Matters 11:57 Cosponsors and HIV Metrics 17:15 Global Fund New Director 23:56 Country Ownership and Supply Chains 31:15 Substack Updates and Missing Plans 33:09 Midterms and USAID Reckoning 37:00 Data Loss and CDC Cuts 44:24 HHS Shakeups and FDA Trust 47:41 Wrap Up and Thanks Read Emily Bass’ Substack: https://substack.com/@emilysbass Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! How do you see the future of global health unfolding? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health.
- 6 days ago50 min
Ben Plumley & Emily Bass on PEPFAR, UNAIDS, Russian Microbes, and More
Ben Plumley and Emily Bass are back, as if huddled together in a virtual conference hotel espresso bar, drinking a cocktail, snacking on peanuts, and making sense of the latest global health news that’s broken, breaking or nobody’s bothering with but they should. This week’s topics: • Why is Emily Substacking about the post DOGE US President’s Plan for AIDS Relief and why the truth not the spin matters • The recent Substack from Angela Rasmussen on what the forgotten week-old pneumonia-like infection (that killed a lab technician in Siberia) tells us about how predictable Russia’s reticence with global health authorities continues to be. As worrying, how the disruption caused by the evisceration of the US’ CDC makes pandemic preparedness significantly harder • The UNAIDS board meeting happening in Geneva about its future; and • An outstanding piece of journalism in the New York Times by Stephanie Nolen on possible funding opportunities for global health from the new generation of tech billionaires (and not THAT trillionaire) Things we talk about: https://substack.com/@emilysbass?r=5kw5og&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=stories&shareImageVariant=light https://substack.com/@rasmussenretorts?r=5kw5og&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=stories&shareImageVariant=blur https://benplumley.substack.com/p/a-sunrise-for-unaids?r=5kw5og&utm_medium=ios People we talk about: https://www.ninaschwalbe.info/ 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 01:09 Why This Substack Exists 05:04 America First Strategy Reality Check 07:13 Where The Money Really Goes 09:11 What’s The Payback 12:19 Transactional Aid Debate 16:56 Reckoning With USAID Damage 20:46 Russia Outbreak Transparency Fears 24:52 Broken Pandemic Surveillance System 32:15 Specimen Sharing Parallel Track 36:31 AI Billionaires and Metrics 39:59 Performance Payments Pitfalls 43:52 UNAIDS Future on the Line 48:17 Wrap Up and What’s Next Read Emily Bass’ Substack: https://substack.com/@emilysbass Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! How do you see the future of global health unfolding? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health.
- Sep 9, 202642 min
Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, Chpt 6: Innovation in Global Health: Scaling responsibly, equitably, and faster
At the AIDS 2026 Global AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Ben interviews Dr. mike Reed about how global health technology succeeds or fails depending less on the tools than on governance, ownership, community co-design, and alignment with ministries of health and other relevant government authorities. Reed contrasts Rwanda’s scaled Zipline drone deliveries and a government-led “sovereign” AI large language model and real-time health dashboards with the many HIV AI pilots that never scale due to weak partnerships, poor interoperability, and lack of sustainable financing. They discuss AI’s potential to support marginalized communities with stigma-free access to information and care navigation, alongside risks around privacy, market capture by big tech, and the need for fair value exchange when community data trains models. Reed highlights a “force multiplier checklist,” Botswana’s youth-designed prevention campaign, and the need to speed up rigorous implementation science and data-to-action timelines. 00:00 Intro 00:32 Drones and donor tech 03:45 Why pilots fail 06:56 Rooting tech locally 10:59 Sovereign AI example 12:43 AI for key populations 18:28 Governance and commons 25:06 Force multiplier checklist 29:36 Data sovereignty rules 31:24 Faster science with AI 36:19 Optimistic closing 41:12 Thanks and wrap Learn more about the book: https://bit.ly/redefining-global-health More from UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences: https://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu Check Out mike Reid’s Substack: https://substack.com/@reimaginingglobalhealth Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! What would it take for global health to avoid decline? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health — and look out for a dedicated sub channel for Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century under A Shot in the Arm’s YouTube home. Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century: The Podcast (Playlist on Youtube) https://bit.ly/rgh-book A Shot in the Arm Podcast Youtube (Main Channel) https://youtube.com/@shotarmpodcast
- Sep 1, 202647 min
Beyond the Hype: Re-engineering HIV Diagnostics for a Resilient Future (recorded at AIDS 2026)
Recorded at AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro at the Roche Diagnostics booth, host Ben Plumley speaks with Professor Pedro Cahn (Fundación Huésped, Argentina) and Dr. Rupa Patel (Whitman-Walker Health, Washington, DC) about why diagnostics—often overlooked in the HIV continuum—are the essential entry point to prevention and care, especially amid reduced funding. They discuss late diagnosis and loss to follow-up, structural barriers like clinic access and hours, and the need for community-led, person-centered delivery models including outreach brigades, mobile and home-based services, and task shifting to peers and other health workers. The conversation covers integrating point-of-care and lab testing, the promise and risks of self-testing with real-time linkage to support, and linking HIV diagnostics with broader health needs such as TB, STIs, diabetes, and cancer screening to advance equity and progress toward 95-95-95. 00:00 Welcome and Setup 01:22 Live Booth Kickoff 02:20 Why Diagnostics Matter 07:11 Late Diagnosis and Equity 12:15 Reimagining Care Delivery 19:28 Outreach Testing in Practice 22:53 Point of Care vs Lab 27:28 Self Testing Debate 34:35 Building Integrated Platforms 38:30 Policy and Provider Barriers 43:43 Closing Calls to Action Guests: Professor Pedro Cahn Scientific Director Fundación Huésped, Argentina Dr. Rupa R. Patel Biomedical HIV Prevention Clinical and Research Lead Whitman Walker Institute and Health, Washington D.C. Roche Diagnostics https://diagnostics.roche.com AIDS 2026 https://www.iasociety.org/conferences/aids2026 Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! How do you see the future of global health unfolding? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health. #hivaids #HIV #AIDS #globalhealth #AIDS2026 #RocheDiagnostics
- Aug 18, 202637 min
Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, Chapter 5: The Climate Crisis is a Health Crisis: Reframing the Global Health Agenda in an Era of Planetary Instability
Recorded at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Ben and Dr. mike Reid discuss how climate disruption will exacerbate existing infectious diseases, enable emerging threats, and worsen non-infectious conditions, arguing global health must anticipate and mitigate climate-health impacts. They note health was sidelined at COP Egypt 2025 and that few national climate plans include health adaptation budgets. Case studies contrast Pakistan’s 2022 floods—2.6 million new malaria cases, fivefold dengue increase, and 20% of primary care facilities underwater—with Mozambique’s Cyclone Idai response, where PEPFAR-supported HIV infrastructure enabled faster recovery through reliable supply chains, information systems, energy backups, and workforce support. They emphasize integrated, resilient primary care and scaled community health workforces (e.g., Ethiopia), including community-delivered mental health care, amid shrinking donor support. mike explains applying Kate Raworth’s “donut economics” to climate-health financing, referencing the Bridgetown Initiative and proposing climate-health bonds, while also highlighting greener delivery, regional manufacturing, and lower-emission prevention tools like lenacapavir and cabotegravir. 00:00 Live from Rio 00:52 Climate-Driven Disease 03:26 Health Plans Missing 05:31 Resilient Systems 06:10 Pakistan Flood Case 08:00 Mozambique Cyclone Ida 11:35 Primary Care Backbone 12:27 Community Health Workforce 14:22 Conference Funding Shift 17:09 Donut Economics Explained 20:55 Cameroon Donut Priorities 22:25 Why Leaders Ignore Health 23:32 Financing Climate Health 29:57 Sustainable Global Health 32:09 One Key Investment 33:34 Rio Networking Surprise 35:02 Wrap-Up and Credits Learn more about the book: https://bit.ly/redefining-global-health More from UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences: https://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu Check Out mike Reid’s Substack: https://substack.com/@reimaginingglobalhealth Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! What would it take for global health to avoid decline? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health — and look out for a dedicated sub channel for Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century under A Shot in the Arm’s YouTube home. Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century: The Podcast (Playlist on Youtube) https://bit.ly/rgh-book A Shot in the Arm Podcast Youtube (Main Channel) https://youtube.com/@shotarmpodcast
- Aug 5, 20261h 6m
Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, Chpt 4: Financing Global Health in an Era of Scarcity
In this episode of Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, Ben chats with authors mike Reid and Eric Goosby about how funding shocks become life-and-death realities, starting with a case from Zambia after the January 2025 U.S. pause and cuts to PEPFAR that left many without antiretrovirals and destabilized HIV services in a system heavily dependent on U.S. support. They describe behind-the-scenes efforts to warn political leaders, on-the-ground resilience and improvisation, and the emotional toll of what they view as an abandonment of dialogue. The discussion explores whether donor dependency was a design choice, the roles donors should play (equity gaps, global public goods, and underwriting transitions), and options such as co-investment requirements, government-to-government funding, debt-to-health swaps, public financial management support, domestic resource mobilization (including sin taxes), and potential roles for development finance and sovereign wealth funds, while stressing the need to define a clear destination for health financing and country ownership. 00:00 Welcome and Book Intro 00:29 Zambia Funding Shock 02:26 Why Zambia Matters 05:58 Scrambling After PEPFAR Pause 07:58 Resilience and System Fragility 09:58 Eric Goosby Reaction 15:37 Dependency by Design 18:44 Colonial Debt Reality 22:25 What Solidarity Looks Like 26:10 Donor Funding Roles 30:21 Accountability and Oversight 32:50 Co Investment and Direct Funding 35:37 Debt Relief as Co Investment 36:46 Debt for Health Swaps 37:46 Modernizing Gavi and Global Fund 41:26 Local Accountability and Trust 45:26 Post Aid Era Roadmap 48:19 Building Country Ownership 53:46 Sovereign Wealth Fund Ideas 58:04 New Finance Tools and Taxes 01:00:04 Defining the Destination 01:04:03 Call to Action and Thanks Learn more about the book: https://bit.ly/redefining-global-health More from UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences: https://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu Check Out mike Reid’s Substack: https://substack.com/@reimaginingglobalhealth Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! What would it take for global health to avoid decline? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health — and look out for a dedicated sub channel for Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century under A Shot in the Arm’s YouTube home. Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century: The Podcast (Playlist on Youtube) https://bit.ly/rgh-book A Shot in the Arm Podcast Youtube (Main Channel) https://youtube.com/@shotarmpodcast
- Aug 1, 202619 min
Wrapping our Conversations with Youth Leadership at AIDS 2026
This episode was made in partnership with the International AIDS Society (IAS), Young Leaders Programme. ---- Host Ben Plumley wraps up the A Shot in the Arm Podcast from AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro with Zarawu Adams, a medical scientist from Salama Clinic in Accra, Ghana, reflecting on an exhausting but valuable week balancing conference sessions with the IAS’ Young Leaders Programme. Adams highlights research linking antiretroviral treatment to metabolic crises such as type 2 diabetes, including work focused on pregnant women, and confirms through conversations with scientific leaders that this issue is still under-emphasized. She describes the Young Leaders program as a diverse international advocacy network across HIV and other infectious diseases that builds connections, fills gaps, and broadens engagement beyond science to policy, innovation, and activism. Adams emphasizes resilience, the funding crisis, and the urgent need to tackle stigma and discrimination – particularly as a driver of suicide, while noting increased visibility for LGBT communities within the IAS space. 00:00 Welcome to Rio 00:53 Metabolic Risks Spotlight 03:15 Young Leaders Program 04:53 Networking and Advice 07:26 Stigma and Discrimination 08:32 Activism and Funding Crisis 10:36 Resilience and New Ideas 14:27 Priority on Stigma 15:41 LGBTQ and Closing Reflections 17:54 Final Thanks and Sign Off Guests: Zarawu Adams Medical Scientist, Salama Clinic, Accra, Ghana AIDS 2026 https://www.iasociety.org/conferences/aids2026 Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! How do you see the future of global health unfolding? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health. #hivaids #HIV #AIDS #globalhealth #AIDS2026 #IAS
- Aug 1, 202640 min
Communities & Treatment Access with ITPC at AIDS 2026
Host Ben Plumley speaks with Solange Baptiste Simon and Othoman Mellouk of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) about their packed treatment pre-conference and concerns that treatment is being sidelined amid heavy focus on PrEP and prevention. They argue the prevention-versus-treatment framing is false, emphasizing a continuum from testing to prevention to treatment, and describe on-the-ground chaos as HIV services are integrated into broader chronic care with overstretched health workers and communities. They discuss a “strange” AIDS 2026 marked by funding cuts and reduced PEPFAR influence, uneven country leadership, and a shift from scientific innovation to challenges of financing, manufacturing, regulation, and equitable delivery of long-acting technologies. They caution against product-driven responses, stress human rights and stigma realities, and conclude that community power, involvement, and resourcing remain central to sustainable solutions. 00:00 Welcome and Guests 01:08 Treatment Preconference Highlights 03:13 Prevention vs Treatment Debate 05:00 Continuum of Care Reality 07:34 Clinic Integration Chaos 10:07 Conference Avoiding Hard Truths 14:58 Post PEPFAR Future 18:39 Product Hype vs Access 22:58 Fiscal Space and Priorities 25:13 Beyond Biomedical Fixes 30:19 2030 Targets Reality Check 32:29 Crossroads and Policy Choices 36:15 Community Hope and Closing 38:23 Final Thanks and Signoff Guests: Solange Baptiste Simon Executive Director, ITPC Othoman Mellouk Access to Medicines & Diagnostic Lead, ITPC ITPC Global https://itpcglobal.org AIDS 2026 https://www.iasociety.org/conferences/aids2026 Check Out Ben’s Substack: https://substack.com/@benplumley1 Join the Conversation! How do you see the future of global health unfolding? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe & Stay Updated: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Watch on YouTube & subscribe for more in-depth global health. #hivaids #HIV #AIDS #globalhealth #AIDS2026 #ITPC
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About A Shot in the Arm Podcast
Welcome to A Shot In The Arm Podcast, where we take a deep dive into the heart of global health. Since our launch in 2019, we've released over 150 episodes that illuminate the intersection of innovation and equity in healthcare. Join me, your host Ben Plumley—a global infectious disease strategist and passionate HIV advocate, along with our expert team of co-hosts, as we engage in compelling, character-driven conversations with a diverse array of guests from around the world. Together, we explore the intricate connections between everyday lives and biomedical research, tackling pressing issues like pandemic preparedness, climate disruption, and the impact of conflict. Tune in as we uncover the stories and insights that shape our collective health narrative, making complex topics both entertaining and accessible. Let's embark on this journey to improve lives, one episode at a time!
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