Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo

An Ebola outbreak that started in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is spreading in the region and has been declared a health emergency. Health Check’s Claudia Hammond has the latest with BBC reporter Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa, Heather Kerr, Country Director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the DRC, and Professor Trudie Lang, head of the Global Health Network at Oxford University. Claudia is joined in the studio by BBC health reporter Laura Foster. They discuss the call for more testing of drugs with under-represented groups, after a study of Black African Americans, smokers, and people with complex health conditions in the US showed that an asthma drug, Tezepelumab, led to 70% fewer asthma attacks in people with severe asthma. They also hear about new hearing technology which can read peoples’ brainwaves to help people to pick out the single voice they want to listen to in a noisy room. Claudia speaks to Nima Mesgarani, Associate Professor at the Zuckerman Institute at  Columbia University in New York. And Claudia and Laura discuss why some cancer patients would fancy a pre-consultation with an AI avatar before a consultation with their real-life doctor? It's the subject of research by Dr Adam Raben, Chair of Radiation Oncology at the Helen F Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware, USA; presented at the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology Congress. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell & Clare Salisbury Image: A Congolese health worker checks the temperature to screen a traveller at the Grande Barrier border following confirmation of an Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, at the border crossing point between Congo and Rwanda, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo May 18, 2026