How does war affect a child’s brain?
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For nearly forty years, Fergal Keane has reported for the BBC from some of the world’s most brutal conflicts – in Gaza, Iraq, Rwanda, Sudan, Ukraine and beyond – and in that time interviewed scores of children who are the innocent victims of adult wars.
As he came to understand the impacts of trauma on young minds, Keane began too to experience his own mental breakdowns – the result of a troubled childhood and a career spent running towards danger – and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.
In today’s episode, he reflects on what he has learned from his own experiences and reporting about how childhood traumas can be treated, and the hope for those living through today’s wars.
Producer: Hannah Moore
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Displaced children play in Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Haitham Imad/ EPA/ Shutterstock.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Before we start, this episode contains upsetting details of children's experiences in war. |
| 0:12.3 | So please take care while listening. |
| 0:14.4 | More than 1,100 children have been killed or injured in the Middle East in the two weeks since the war in Iran started. |
| 0:21.2 | That's according to UNICEF. |
| 0:23.8 | Children are often the victims of war, but they're also often the ones that we hear of least. |
| 0:28.7 | For the last four decades, Fergal Keen has been one of the most familiar voices on the BBC |
| 0:34.4 | reporting from war zones around the world. |
| 0:37.6 | And over the years, he's been profoundly affected by the stories he's heard from children |
| 0:42.1 | in particular. |
| 0:43.7 | Now, this spring, he's saying goodbye to the BBC. |
| 0:46.8 | So we sat down with him to talk through the issue that has stayed with him throughout his |
| 0:51.7 | career. |
| 0:52.7 | From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid. |
| 0:55.2 | And I'm Tristan Redman. |
| 0:56.8 | And today on the global story, Fergal Keen on PTSD |
| 1:00.1 | and how living through war affects children's brains. |
| 1:15.8 | Fergal, thank you so much for joining us. Could you introduce yourself for us, please? |
| 1:20.5 | Yeah, I'm Fergal Keen. I've been around a long time. It feels like forever. |
| 1:22.2 | I love that as an introduction. |
| 1:25.5 | Doing what in all that time, Fergal? I've been a foreign correspondent, war correspondent with the BBC for 37 years. |
| 1:31.3 | Before that, I was a reporter in Belfast in Ireland for Irish TV and radio. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.