On The Lancet Voice, host Niall Boyce and co-host Miriam Sabin are joined by Taissa Villa, editor-in-chief of The Lancet Regional Health Americas, and Professor Marcia de Castro — Andelot Professor of Demography and chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University — to assess the state of health across Latin America.

2024 was dengue's worst year on record. Oropouche virus has broken out of the Amazon. Venezuela's earthquake exposed a health system already gutted by a decade of political crisis. PAHO estimates the combined burden of NCDs and mental health at seven trillion dollars — roughly the region's entire GDP. And US withdrawal from PEPFAR and the Global Fund now threatens malaria elimination programs that were within reach in Mesoamerica.

Yet Brazil's SUS remains the only free universal health system serving a population above 200 million, and Castro sees real grounds for hope in PAHO-led malaria elimination efforts.

The Lancet Voice is part of the Lancet Group podcast offering.

Editorial team: Niall Boyce, Miriam Sabin, Jessamy Bagenal, Richard Horton, and Gavin Cleaver

Podcast editing: Matteo Simonetti

Visit https://www.thelancet.com/multimedia to learn more about our multimedia offering.

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