Sebastián Martínez Valdivia
Reporter, Side Effects and KBIASebastián Martínez Valdivia is a health reporter and documentary filmmaker who focuses on access to care in rural and immigrant communities. A native Spanish speaker and lifelong Missouri resident, Sebastián is interested in the often overlooked and under-covered world of immigrant life in the rural Midwest. He has a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri and a master's degree in documentary journalism at the same institution. Aside from public health, his other interests include conservation, climate change and ecology.
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In many rural towns, local hospitals are community fixtures. When they close, the entire community feels the ripple effects. -
A federal emergency declaration that has allowed children to receive continuous Medicaid coverage throughout the pandemic could end soon, and health providers are worried. -
So-called cryptic lineages may hold the key to better understand how the virus that causes COVID mutates to evade our immune systems. -
Research suggests access to public health insurance can help curb recidivism. Reentry organizations in Missouri are working to enroll people in Medicaid after they leave prison to keep them from coming back. -
In Columbia, Missouri, some community members are stepping up to help unhoused individuals find solutions. They say city leaders have not done enough. -
The first U.S. omicron case was identified Wednesday – about a week after its discovery in South Africa. While there are concerns about the variant’s transmissibility, the number of mutations it possesses make it easier to detect than other strains. -
Public health experts and law enforcement blame the uptick in overdose deaths on fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is much more deadly than other derivatives. -
Deferred doctors visits during the pandemic have left kids across the country behind on routine inoculations. -
Medicaid expansion has been a contentious issue across the U.S., and in Missouri, battle lines are drawn at the highest levels of government. State residents voted to expand the health insurance program. But the legislature balked at funding it and the governor says the state will not offer coverage to the estimated 250,000 newly eligible Missourians. That triggered a lawsuit on behalf of three people eligible under expansion. Side Effects Public Media's Sebastian Martinez Valdivia spoke with one of the plaintiffs' lawyers about the case. -
Maine, Missouri and Pennsylvania demonstrate vaccination struggles, strategies and lessons learned along the way — from mass vaccination sites to centralized registries to effective messaging.
