We’re sharing the first episode of “Silence in Sikeston,” a new podcast from KFF Health News and WORLD The 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. The 2020 police shooting of Denzel Taylor. Two Black men killed nearly 80 years apart by a public health threat of their time. Silence in Sikeston explores what it means to live with racism and violence, then charts the toll on our health — from hives, high blood pressure, inflammation and heart disease to struggles with mental health. All four episodes of Silence of Sikeston are available now on Apple, Spotify, or PRX.

When Indigenous people started moving to cities in large numbers after World War II, many found hardship and discrimination there … but not the health care they were entitled to. Episode 12, the season finale, explores the efforts of urban Indian health providers to close those gaps by providing affordable, culturally competent care.

Rising sea levels and severe hurricanes are displacing Indigenous people in Southern Louisiana and harming health. Episode 11 explores the United Houma Nation’s push for federal tribal recognition and the climate-change help that could come with it. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

Exploitative practices in medical research have contributed to the underrepresentation of Native people in clinical trials. Episode 10 explores the efforts of Indigenous scientists to rebuild this broken trust through tribally controlled research.

A lack of Native physicians means many tribal communities rely on doctors who don’t share their lived experience, culture, or spiritual beliefs. In Episode 9, meet two medical students working to join the ranks of Indigenous physicians.

Indigenous people in the United States face disproportionately high rates of incarceration and family separation through the foster care system. Episode 8 explores the Yurok Tribal Court’s efforts to keep families together.

From forced sterilizations in the 1960s to scant access to abortion care today, barriers to health care threaten Native people’s reproductive autonomy. Episode 7 explores efforts to protect and expand Native Americans’ access to comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care.

Over decades, federal and state policies have left many tribal communities without access to clean, running water. This episode explores what separates some Diné and other Native people in the western United States from this critical resource. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reauthorized on March 10, 2022, reaffirming tribes’ authority to prosecute non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence and certain other crimes. This episode looks at the history of VAWA, and how protections for Native women have been tangled in the fine print of the law. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

This episode is the second half of a two-part series about uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. A coalition of Indigenous leaders and non-Native locals are lobbying Congress and fielding research to force the cleanup of abandoned uranium mining sites and expand federal compensation for workers harmed by the uranium industry. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

Episode 3 is an exploration of the forces that brought uranium mining to the Navajo Nation, the harmful consequences, and the fight for compensation that continues today. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

Native foodways of hunting, fishing, gathering, and farming have been under threat since the arrival of Europeans. In this episode, hear how Indigenous people are reclaiming their food traditions to improve community health. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

Explore what made the Navajo people ― also known as the Diné ― so vulnerable to the first surges of the covid-19 pandemic. The first episode of “Rezilience,” Season 4 of the “American Diagnosis” podcast, begins in the forests outside the Grand Canyon. “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.

In the years leading up to the pandemic, Dr. Celine Gounder, the host of the American Diagnosis and EPIDEMIC podcasts, had the opportunity to care for patients part-time at several Indian Health Service facilities around the United States. Working on the “rez,” one theme came up over and over: resilience. In this latest season of American Diagnosis, we’re going to share stories of Indigenous people who are taking action to protect the health and wellbeing of their communities in the face of incredible odds and we’ll ask hard questions about why they are confronting so many challenges to their health. Listen to new episodes of American Diagnosis Season 4: Rezilience starting Jan. 18, 2022. Subscribe to American Diagnosis wherever you get you podcasts.

"Science is harmed when scientists don't take into account the bias that comes along with inherently being a human." -Kafui Dzirasa As a result of centuries of discrimination, and lack of access to education and opportunity, African Americans comprise only 5% of active physicians in the United States today. Former-Surgeon General David Satcher, who was also the first African American to lead the CDC, has been working to improve health equity in the United States since his days as a medical student in the 1960s. In this bonus episode of AMERICAN DIAGNOSIS, we’re going to hear about efforts to improve health equity in America from leaders like Dr. Satcher, former-NIH director Harold Varmus, and Kafui Dzirasa. We’ll see how they are seizing this critical moment for racial justice to improve health outcomes and professional opportunities for people of color in the sciences. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.

"Nobody really wants to leave their community and I don't blame them because it's our culture and we shouldn't have to move just to have clean air to breathe. That should be God-given right to drink clean water, to breathe clean air.” -Hilton Kelley During the modern environmental movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s, landmark legislation was passed in the U.S. to ensure cleaner, safer air and water across the nation. But in recent years it’s been difficult for environmental policies to get through Congress. That leaves activists having to turn their energy away from Washington and instead focus on grassroot movements to create local change. In this bonus episode, we will hear from Ralph Nader, a consumer activist and former presidential candidate, and Hilton Kelley, who is fighting to clean up his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas by empowering the community to demand cleaner air. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.

"As we enter into a time of climate change, one of the things we're realizing is these communities that have been systematically oppressed are now the spaces people with money want to be in because all around us is sinking" - Nicole Crooks In this bonus episode of AMERICAN DIAGNOSIS, we’re going to look at how climate change is impacting the health of people… and their communities in South Florida. We'll hear from a physician working to change the way her colleagues think about how climate impacts health, and we’ll talk to two people working to make sure that residents can keep their homes when developers start looking to higher ground as sea levels rise. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.

"This can't continue to go on and if I have to be the one to take up the mantle, then I'll do that because that's what my daughter would have done." -Wanda Irving The United States is the richest country in the world with some of the most advanced medical treatments available anywhere. But you’d never know it if you knew how many mothers die in — and after — childbirth here. The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the industrialized world and the rate is staggeringly high for women of color, especially Black women. In this special bonus episode about maternal mortality we’re going to hear firsthand how this trend is affecting Black mothers and learn about one possible solution to this deadly disparity. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.

"We used to be a nation where people were one bad gene or one bad traffic accident away from bankruptcy. That's not true anymore." -Jonathan Gruber It's been 10 years since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Some of its most popular provisions included protections for people with pre-existing conditions, allowing children to stay on their family’s health insurance until they turn 26, and expanding prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients. But the law remains controversial. On Nov. 10, 2020, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the latest constitutional challenge to the law. In this bonus episode of American Diagnosis, we look back at the surprising origins of the Affordable Care Act, see why it’s become so controversial, and what the latest legal challenge to the ACA would mean for the millions of Americans who depend on the law for their health insurance. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.

“Despite all of those other cues, my white coat, my scrubs, you know, somebody just looked out the window and saw danger. And even the officers who came to talk to me couldn't override their biases that said danger.  And this is not a unique experience at all. I have friends, particularly black men who have trained at some of the best institutions in the country, that not only have these experiences with police, they have these experience with campus police as they're walking around, like going into research labs with their ID badges on. It is like this is a shared experience.”-Kafui Dzirasa, M.D., Ph.D. Today on "Epidemic," we will be hearing a bonus episode from our sister podcast, "American Diagnosis" about some of the issues around race and racism in medicine. In this episode, Dr. Celine Gounder speaks with Dr. Kafui Dzirasa, a psychiatrist and NIH-funded brain researcher at Duke University, about his journey climbing to the heights of biomedical research in the United States as a first-generation immigrant and a black man. We’ll hear how the legacy of slavery continues in science and medicine, Kaf’s advice on finding mentors, and how he’s handling the pandemic as a scientist and an African American. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you. #BlackLivesMatter #BLM #BlackInTheIvory