Using gossip to help vaccinate every child in India | Varsha Venugopal (2021)
Originally released October 2021. Our failure to get every kid in the world all of their basic vaccinations on time leads to 1.5 million deaths every year. According to today’s guest, Varsha Venugopal, for the great majority this has nothing to do with weird conspiracy theories or medical worries: in India 80% of undervaccinated children are already getting some shots. They just aren’t getting all of them for the tragically mundane reason that life can get in the way.
As Varsha says, we’re all sometimes guilty of “valuing our present very differently from the way we value the future,” leading to short-term thinking, whether about going to the gym or getting vaccines.
So who should we call on to help fix this universal problem? The government, extended family, or maybe village elders? Varsha says that research shows the most influential figures might actually be local gossips.
Learn more and see the full transcript on the 80,000 Hours website: https://80000hours.org/podcast/episod...
Chapters:
• Rob’s intro (00:00:00)
• The interview begins (00:01:47)
• The problem of undervaccinated kids (00:03:16)
• Suvita (00:12:47)
• Evidence on SMS reminders (00:20:30)
• Gossip intervention (00:28:43)
• Why parents aren’t already prioritizing vaccinations (00:38:29)
• Weaknesses of studies (00:43:01)
• Biggest challenges for Suvita (00:46:05)
• Staff location (01:06:57)
• Charity Entrepreneurship (01:14:37)
• The importance of co-founders (01:23:23)
• Deciding how broad a program should be (01:28:29)
• Careers at Suvita (01:34:11)
• Varsha’s advice (01:42:30)
• Varsha’s day-to-day experience (01:56:19)
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The 80,000 Hours Podcast features unusually in-depth conversations about the world’s most pressing problems and what you can do to solve them.
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