Responding to Ebola
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the head of the World Health Organization warned this week that the country faces a “catastrophic collision” of disease and conflict. Ebola is a disease caused by a virus, and outbreaks between people start when somebody catches it from an infected animal. Ebola is rare but the symptoms are severe, often leading to death. To compound matters, not only is this area of central Africa badly affected by conflict, there is also not currently a vaccine for this strain of the virus. Two aid workers in the region share their experiences of containing the disease. We also hear from journalists tackling misinformation, and we meet Harriet in Liberia who contracted Ebola during a previous outbreak.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | Things just swirling around my head. |
| 0:09.6 | Am I really the product of this? |
| 0:12.1 | Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests. |
| 0:17.0 | Little did I know what more was to come. |
| 0:19.5 | I'm Jenny Clemen, and in the new series of The Gift, we'll hear more stories emerging out of the ever-expanding global DNA database. They did know that I was different. You had kids together. Yeah. Then you met. Then we met. The Gift. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:41.7 | Hello, I'm James Reynolds. |
| 0:43.6 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:47.7 | In BBC conversations, we bring people together to share their personal experiences of major news stories. |
| 0:55.1 | This time, our guests share their experiences of Ebola. |
| 1:01.2 | Ebola is a disease caused by a virus. |
| 1:04.5 | Outbreaks between people start when somebody catches it from an infected animal. |
| 1:09.5 | Ebola is rare, but the symptoms are severe. |
| 1:12.7 | They often lead to death. |
| 1:15.1 | As we record this program on Friday lunchtime, |
| 1:18.2 | the outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo |
| 1:20.7 | is believed to have killed at least 220 people |
| 1:24.0 | with more than a thousand suspected cases. |
| 1:30.2 | But as we'll hear, that is likely to be an underestimate. To make matters worse, not only is this area of Central Africa badly affected by |
| 1:36.3 | conflicts, there also isn't currently a vaccine for this particular strain of the virus. |
| 1:43.5 | Later, we'll hear from someone who survived the disease. |
| 1:46.7 | Firstly, though, to get a sense of the situation on the ground, |
... |
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