Make Me Care About

To close out Season 1 of Make Me Care About, we talk with the co-chair of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates.

Make Me Care About is produced by Magnificent Noise in partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To learn more about our show: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/podcast/make-me-care-about

For more on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work: https://www.gatesfoundation.org

Learn more about our host, Jen Hatmaker: https://jenhatmaker.com

Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi, Hiwote Getaneh, Julia Natt, and our sound designer Kristin Mueller. Our Executive Producer is Eric Nuzum and the host is Jen Hatmaker.

The next time you reach for the salt, read the label. More often than not, it is iodized salt you’re consuming. Turns out, salt fortified with iodine may actually make you smarter and has changed the world in ways you might have never guessed. 

This episode features Jen Hatmaker, an American author, speaker, blogger, and television presenter, in conversation with Venkatesh Mannar, professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto in Canada and former president of the global Micronutrient Initiative. Jen and Venkatesh discuss iodized salt as an example of low cost, large scale food fortification. This can help deliver essential nutrients to large populations in the world where poor nutrition is a leading risk factor for preventable malnutrition, ensuing cognitive deficiencies, and deaths. Micronutrients, including minerals like iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamins like vitamin A and C, are needed for essential body functions relating to both physical and mental growth and development to help build strong immunity and healthy lives.

Make Me Care About is produced by Magnificent Noise in partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To learn more about our show: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/podcast/make-me-care-about

For more on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work: https://www.gatesfoundation.org

To learn more about  Iodized Salt:

Nutrition Strategy: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-growth-and-opportunity/nutrition

Doubling down on food fortification to fortify the future: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/food-fortification-to-fortify-the-future

For more on the work of our guest,  Venkatesh Mannar: https://cgen.utoronto.ca/about-cgen/people/m-g-venkatesh-mannar/

Learn more about our host, Jen Hatmaker: https://jenhatmaker.com

Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi, Hiwote Getaneh, Julia Natt, and our sound designer Kristin Mueller. Our Executive Producer is Eric Nuzum and the host is Jen Hatmaker.

Do you know what the deadliest animal is on the planet? From movies and TV shows, you might be thinking sharks, but that's wrong (sharks kill about five people a year). The answer is…mosquitoes. They are the deadliest animals on the planet by a long shot, and their biggest threat: malaria. Many of us have taken malaria pills before traveling without thinking twice about malaria itself. But how does malaria actually impact us? Malaria has devastated the sustainability of communities and the global economy. And in the words of this episode’s guest, Dr. Fredros Okumu, “It’s better to be alive than to be dead”.

This episode features Jen Hatmaker, an American author, speaker, blogger, and television presenter, in conversation with Fredros Okumu, parasitologist and Director of Science at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, Africa. Jen and Fredros discuss how malaria is a disease for which we know the cause, the treatment, and how to effectively prevent it. Still, over half of the world population is currently at risk of malaria, and it kills 600,000 people annually, most of which are young children across the African continent. Like COVID, malaria affects us all through its impact on global economic growth, health, and travel. With investment and early interventions, including mosquito control and adequate diagnostics and treatments, we can reduce the disease burden and increase global health equity and dignity.

Make Me Care About is produced by Magnificent Noise in partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To learn more about our show: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/podcast/make-me-care-about

For more on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work: https://www.gatesfoundation.org

To learn more about malaria:

Malaria Strategy: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/food-fortification-to-fortify-the-future

What will it take to outsmart malaria?: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-health/malaria

Why the Interceptor G2 net could be a game changer for malaria eradication: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/ig2-nets-malaria-eradication-financed-by-the-global-fund

For more on the work of our guest, Fredros Okumu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredros_Okumu

Learn more about our host, Jen Hatmaker: https://jenhatmaker.com

Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi, Hiwote Getaneh, Julia Natt, and our sound designer Kristin Mueller. Our Executive Producer is Eric Nuzum and the host is Jen Hatmaker.

These days, there’s an app for everything, including your financial information. But what if you didn’t have access to receive and manage your own money? How would this limit how you live, thrive, or even survive? For many people - especially women - digital tools help unlock their power and agency over their own lives, and are the catalysts for change for growing economies.  

This episode features Jen Hatmaker, an American author, speaker, blogger, and television presenter, in conversation with Deon Woods, a Senior Program Officer focusing on Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Deon shares how access to digital money (like venmo or paypal) and control over financial accounts are the most important predictors of a woman’s economic empowerment. This allows for professional opportunity and economic participation which means they can enhance the prosperity of their families, their communities, and the entire country and global economy. By increasing the financial autonomy, decision-making power, and personal freedom of women, we improve gender equality and our overall societies and economies as well. This equips us to better handle big challenges including global health challenges like COVID.

Make Me Care About is produced by Magnificent Noise in partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To learn more about our show: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/podcast/make-me-care-about

For more on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work: https://www.gatesfoundation.org

To learn more about digital money:

Womens Economic Empowerment Global Framework: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/equal-is-greater/

Financial Services for the Poor: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-growth-and-opportunity/financial-services-for-the-poor

Global Findex 2021: How digital wages empower Bangladeshi women: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/2021-findex-report-financial-inclusion-benefits-bangladeshi-women

Statement from Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman: Why we need digital infrastructure: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2022/12/digital-public-infrastructure

For more on the work of our guest, Deon Woods: https://dial.global/profile/deonwoodsbell/

Learn more about our host, Jen Hatmaker: https://jenhatmaker.com

Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi, Hiwote Getaneh, Julia Natt, and our sound designer Kristin Mueller. Our Executive Producer is Eric Nuzum and the host is Jen Hatmaker.