How much of our inner world is shaped by the world around us? And does depression in Oslo feel the same as depression in Oklahoma City? The language we use to talk about our pain and even the pain itself can be deeply cultural. For a long time the approach to mental health was to stick on a label and treat the symptoms. That's evolving from a one-size-fits-all approach to viewing mental health through a cultural lens. Ingunn Marie Engebretsen tells us how culture shapes how we perceive and express symptoms, our willingness to seek help, stigma around mental health, and family and community support.

Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria evolve to withstand the medicines designed to kill them. About half the time that we use an antibiotic, it might not be needed or it's the wrong one for the job. That misuse is what's driving antibiotic resistance. Resistant infections threaten modern medicine's ability to manage infections and lead to longer illnesses, hospital stays, higher costs, and deaths. Facundo Jorro-Baron tells us about how public hospitals he worked with changed their antibiotic prescription practices. Hear why the fight against antibiotic resistance deals with some resistance of its own. And like most resistance, it too is local.

Behind so many children with complex medical needs there is an often invisible support system. The people we're talking about are family members of children with medical complexity. Pediatric neurodisability specialist Helen Leonard shares her experience navigating the healthcare system with her son, Matthew. Health systems are generally better at handling single-issue fixable conditions, such as heart attacks or trauma, but fall short for people with complex needs. If we want to truly deliver coordinated and integrated care, we have to support the entire family, because caring for the caregiver is caring for the child.

When we think of healthcare professionals we usually picture them treating illnesses. But the reality is that major health gaps aren't usually caused by clinical failures – they are the result of social, political, economic, or educational factors. Advocacy in healthcare involves using your voice and expertise to influence not only individual health, but the health of our society. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, tells us how healthcare professionals can step up to make big changes, not just for the person right in front of them, but for whole communities.

Human factors as a field emerged during World War II because of the need to improve the design of aircrafts and other military equipment, while paying attention to human fatigue, perception, thinking, understanding, and usability. It's where psychology meets engineering to design processes that make it easy for people to do the right thing. Since then human factors has expanded into health care to improve how humans interact with health systems. It’s less about creating the perfect healthcare worker and more about designing the perfect (or at least a much better) interaction between the healthcare workers and their environments.

We’re dealing with another delivery dilemma, the rising global rates of medically unnecessary Cesarean sections. Latin America has some of the highest C-section rates in the world and Pedro Delgado tells us about the complex interplay of factors related to childbearing women, societal norms, clinicians, and healthcare systems that drives this practice. It’s about striking a delicate balance — ensuring medically necessary C-sections are accessible while reducing overuse, all while respecting women's rights to choose and promoting informed decision-making.

Too little, too late. And too much, too soon. This and the next episode are about the c-section paradox: the rising rates of medically unnecessary C-sections globally and the underuse of c-sections when they are really needed. Hear about the complex interplay of factors that come into play for a birthing mother not getting a c-section when it's medically needed, and how this causes medical problems or death in mothers and newborns. Abha Mehndiratta discusses an initiative in the state of Bihar, India to increase access to medically necessary c-sections at resource-constrained public hospitals.

In today’s episode the tables are turned and I am a guest on the The Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast in Ireland. This is a special episode to mark the 2025 World Patient Safety Day. This year’s theme is “Safe care for every newborn and every child” and it highlights the need to prevent avoidable harm in child health settings. I’m interviewed by John FitzSimons, a Consultant Pediatrician at Children’s Health Ireland in Dublin. We talk about some of the unique features and risks in the care of newborns and children that must be tackled to make care as safe as possible.