The Evidence: Healthcare pushed out by the pandemic
Discovery
BBC
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2021
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As all eyes have been on the virus, other serious killer diseases took a backseat. Resources and staff were diverted, lockdowns were common all over the world and a very real fear of Covid-19 kept people away from clinics and hospitals.
Claudia Hammond and her expert panel from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America look at the devastating impact of the pandemic on illnesses other than Covid, on global killers like tuberculosis, polio, measles and HIV/Aids.
And they hear that the worldwide disruption to cancer care will inevitably lead to late diagnoses, late-stage cancer treatment and more deaths.
Dr Ramya Ananthakrishnan runs REACH, which supports, cares for and organises treatment for TB patients in Chennai, India’s fourth most populous city. She tells Claudia about how hard the pandemic hit the work they do.
Claudia’s guests include Dr Abeeba Kamarulzaman, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the President of the International Aids Society; Dr Lucica Ditiu, respiratory physician originally from Romania, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, Geneva, Switzerland; Dr Balcha Masresha, coordinator of the measles and rubella programmes for the World Health Organisation in Brazzaville, Congo and cancer physician Dr Carlos Barrios, Director of the Latin American Clinical Oncology Research Group from Brazil.
Produced by: Fiona Hill and Maria Simons Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting. |
| 0:04.3 | I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts. |
| 0:11.1 | My real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest |
| 0:16.8 | stars who can really bring those stories to life. |
| 0:20.0 | I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final |
| 0:25.9 | edit. |
| 0:26.9 | There's nothing like it. |
| 0:27.9 | What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission |
| 0:32.6 | has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK. |
| 0:37.0 | So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. |
| 0:40.6 | Have a listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:42.4 | A warm welcome to this month's edition of the Evidence from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:47.6 | I'm Claudia Hammond and today, instead of looking at coronavirus itself, we're going |
| 0:53.1 | to examine the consequences of the virus for the rest of our healthcare. |
| 0:57.4 | What the impact has been on other health conditions apart from Covid-19 that have been pushed |
| 1:02.6 | out by the pandemic. |
| 1:05.1 | And we know that as all eyes were on the virus, many very serious killer diseases took a backseat. |
| 1:11.9 | Resources and staff were diverted, people lived in lockdown in much of the world, movement |
| 1:16.8 | was severely restricted, and a very real fear of the virus kept people away from clinics |
| 1:22.6 | and hospitals. |
| 1:24.1 | Now I've been covering these real world consequences in my weekly health program, health check here |
| 1:29.4 | on the BBC World Service, but I think it's time to take a good, hard look at the consequences |
... |
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.