WHO scaling up response to Ebola outbreak
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The World Health Organisation has sent six tonnes of medical supplies to the Democratic Republic of Congo as it continues to sound the alarm over the scale of the Ebola outbreak in central Africa. We hear why the authorities are battling against the widespread local belief that symptoms are caused not by the Ebola virus, but witchcraft.
Also, a look ahead to today's primary contests in the United States with Kentucky becoming the most expensive race ever, and the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, tells our correspondent why he believes he was the victim of “lawfare” and “a witch-hunt” by a vindictive Biden Administration.
(Photo: Fatima Tafida, the Regional Supply Chain Lead for Emergencies at the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Office for Africa pastes stickers on shipment pallets as the WHO mobilises 4.7 tonnes of essential medical supplies and emergency kits to support the affected regions in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 18 May, 2026. Credit: World Health Organization/Handout /Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.5 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.0 | Coming to you live from London, I'm Regina Vaidinarthen. |
| 0:16.5 | Coming up, how Sega took on Nintendo in the Battle of the Games consoles. |
| 0:21.7 | The price was too high. We're going to take on Nintendo in advertising. We're going to make fun of them. |
| 0:27.3 | We're going to position them as the little kids system. And we're going to develop more software games in the United States. |
| 0:36.7 | But then, of course, Sony joined the market with their PlayStation. |
| 0:40.4 | We'll have more on that in 20 minutes. |
| 0:43.7 | But first, we begin with the latest on the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, |
| 0:48.7 | which has now claimed more than 130 lives, |
| 0:51.5 | most of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo. |
| 0:56.1 | Well, there are concerns about its spread, with cases now reported across the border in Uganda. A few hours ago, the head of |
| 1:01.6 | the World Health Organization, Tedros Gabri Yasos, explained the severity of this latest |
| 1:07.2 | epidemic and why it's been declared a public health emergency of international concern. |
| 1:12.4 | This is the first time a director general has declared a fick before convening an emergency |
| 1:21.7 | committee. I did not do this lightly. I did it in accordance with Article 12 of the International Health Regulations |
| 1:32.1 | after consulting the Ministers of Health of both countries |
| 1:36.5 | and because I'm deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic. |
| 1:44.3 | Well, meanwhile, the WHO representative in the DRC, Dr. Anne Ancia, spoke to the BBC from |
| 1:50.7 | Bunia in Eastern Congo, which has become the centre of relief efforts. |
| 1:55.0 | And she said that the spread of the virus was wider than they'd earlier expected. |
| 1:59.5 | As we start investigating, we are hearing more about, you know, |
... |
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