Are we heading for another Ebola crisis?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian.
How serious is the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC?
Today, how worried should the world be about the latest Ebola outbreak?
Excellencies. Your Excellencies, let's begin our work.
This week, thousands of the world's most distinguished public health experts have all descended on a conference centre in Switzerland.
The World Health Assembly happens every year in Geneva. All of the countries who are members of the World Health Organisation come together and talk about what it's been doing, what they want it to do for the next year.
Excellencies, Directors,
They have committees to discuss things like antimicrobial resistance, neglected tropical diseases and mental health. It's a big deal, basically like the Glastonbury of public health summits.
What has been the global response to the Ebola outbreak?
Except, of course, it's a public health summit.
So it can be quite dry.
Let us now continue with adoption.
It can be quite procedural.
To add this item to the agenda.
But this year feels a little bit different. because everyone you go up to, everyone you talk to, at some point in every session, someone is going to say, oh, this Ebola outbreak in the DRC looks a bit worrying, doesn't it? I'm very worried about the DRC. The cases are well over 300. There's been The number of deaths, it's a very porous border. And when they say worrying, you sit up and listen because these are health professionals. They're used to dealing with outbreaks. They're not really given to hyperbole.
Just a few days ago, WHO declared Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern.
Ebola outbreaks aren't that unusual.
What are the symptoms and transmission methods of Ebola?
But this one could be different. There's over 100 dead. There is no vaccine for this strain. And people are getting scared that we could once again see scenes reminiscent of the world's worst Ebola epidemic of a decade ago.
You start thinking about that time of overcrowded treatment centres, you know, bodies in the streets. I don't want to be alarmist. The world has got better at dealing with Ebola.
But just those numbers really kind of bring those images back to the front of your mind. From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly.
Today in Focus, are we heading for another Ebola crisis?
How did the last major Ebola outbreak unfold and get contained?
Katle, you're The Guardian's global health correspondent, and you are currently in Geneva, Switzerland for the World Health Assembly. This is an enormous summit where delegations from 194 member states gather to discuss global health policies. Now we have this Ebola outbreak, which I imagine is causing some concern. So can you tell us first, how has that disrupted everyone there?
I mean, it's something that everyone is talking about. It's something that Dr Tedros, the director general, felt he had to address in his opening remarks.
I'm deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic. We will convene the emergency committee today to advise us on temporary recommendations.
The head of Africa CDC, which is the continent's kind of top public health body, Dr. John Kaseya, he was supposed to be in Geneva this week. He was actually here at the weekend, but he has cancelled all his meetings and he's flown back to Africa so that he can kind of be on the ground dealing with this Ebola outbreak.
Currently, I'm on panic mode because people are dying. I don't have medicines. I don't have vaccine. This outbreak now in DRC is out of Ituri.
What challenges does the DRC face in managing the current outbreak?
It's going to other regions.
I think it's a sign of how seriously people are taking this outbreak.
Can you just remind us, you know, what is Ebola and what are its symptoms?
So Ebola is a disease that can be caused by six different types of ortho-Ebola viruses. And they cause symptoms that in the first case, they don't seem that different from another cold or a flu. You know, you've got your aches, pains, shivers. And then they progress and you get what's called the wet symptoms. So you get vomiting, diarrhea, deadly bleeding.
And that bleeding, I mean, it's a really horrible disease, isn't it? I'm sure we all remember the pictures from the last big outbreak quite a few years ago now. It is a nasty, nasty disease, isn't it?
It is. I mean, Ebola viruses can cause fatality rates of up to 80, 90 percent.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:09
2
How serious is the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC?
0:09–1:04
3
What has been the global response to the Ebola outbreak?
1:04–2:12
4
What are the symptoms and transmission methods of Ebola?
2:12–2:57
5
How did the last major Ebola outbreak unfold and get contained?
2:57–4:16
6
What challenges does the DRC face in managing the current outbreak?
4:16–8:22
7
How prepared is the DRC for an Ebola outbreak?
8:22–9:11
8
What are the social and psychological impacts of Ebola on communities?
9:11–23:39