Ebola in DR Congo: A 'catastrophic collision of disease and conflict'

Ebola in DR Congo: A 'catastrophic collision of disease and conflict'

Author: Chatham House May 29, 2026 Duration: 31:35

The major Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northeast is not just a public health emergency in an already impoverished and violence-beset region. Armed rebellion, fragile government and a collapse in public trust are combining to make outbreaks more frequent – and fostering dangerous disinformation that makes the virus harder to fight.

How dangerous is the Ebola virus? Could it spread to the rest of the world? And is America's withdrawal from global health leadership at least partly to blame for its return?

Bronwen Maddox finds out from director of our Africa Programme Tighisti Amare, and director of our Global Health Programme Emma Ross.

Produced by Podmasters for Chatham House.

Read Chatham House's latest:

Comment | The flow of arms and money feeding the war in Sudan can be cut. What is missing is the will

Upcoming event | Targeting medics on the battlefield: addressing the crisis through law and practice

Comment | Ethiopia needs more than an election to calm internal and regional conflict

Magazine issue | Spring issue of The World Today

Audio | The Climate Briefing podcast 🎧

Audio | Africa Aware podcast 🎧

Follow Independent Thinking on your favourite podcast apps.


Hosted by Chatham House director Bronwen Maddox, Independent Thinking brings the institute’s private deliberations into the public ear. This isn’t a rehearsed lecture series, but a direct channel into candid, high-level discussions typically held behind closed doors. Maddox guides conversations with a carefully selected mix of leading policymakers, frontline journalists, and Chatham House’s own deep bench of experts, focusing on the international political issues that are shaping headlines and rewriting global strategies. The tone is analytical yet accessible, privileging substance and nuance over soundbites. Each episode feels like a privileged seat at a crucial roundtable, where complex topics-from shifting alliances and economic sanctions to climate diplomacy and conflict-are unpacked with clarity and intellectual rigor. Listeners gain a clearer understanding of the forces driving world events, hearing diverse perspectives clash and converge in real time. For anyone looking to move beyond the superficial news cycle and engage with the substantive arguments defining our geopolitics, this podcast offers an essential and thoughtful resource. It’s where informed opinion meets the pressing questions of our moment, fostering a deeper kind of political literacy.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Independent Thinking
Podcast Episodes
China rising, America in decline? The Trump-Xi summit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:11
President Donald Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to Washington with the US-China dynamic in a moment of historic flux. China is rising economically and militarily, while the US is mired in the Iran war, alienating allies and p…
Artificial Intelligence, Real Fears: Is it time to slow down? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:38
A call by leaders of the tech giants on the frontier of Artificial Intelligence to 'slow the pace' of its development has sparked debate over the risks associated with AI. Does AI represent an existential threat, and if…
How did 9/11 shape the world we live in? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:08
Twenty five years ago the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history, on 11 September 2001, saw 2,977 people killed in New York, Washington, and aboard the planes hijacked by 19 members of Al-Qaeda. An immediate respon…
What is the United Nations for? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:41
The United Nations convenes for its 81st General Assembly next week amid turmoil around the world that it seeks to bring together. The conflicts in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza, and the US, China and Russia's undermining of th…
The summer of '26: A turning point for the climate crisis? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:22
The climate crisis has seldom been dramatized so vividly as in the summer of 2026. Apocalyptic fires, widespread droughts and drained rivers in Europe made clear a worsening situation that even the most fervent denier ca…
The foreign policy challenges Labour can't ignore [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:26
Britain's new prime minister Andy Burnham is not known for his interest in foreign affairs, but foreign affairs are eternally and often unforgivingly interested in Britain. What should Burnham and his new foreign secreta…
Is the AI boom about to bust? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:09
The $2.6 trillion spent on artificial intelligence, data centres and advanced chipmaking dwarfs the cost of previous infrastructure megaprojects. Yet AI has become a money pit for tech giants like Amazon, Google, Microso…
Can Andy Burnham remake Britain at home and abroad? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:44
Andy Burnham took over as UK prime minister with a vow to restore hope in British politics – and an early volley of voter-friendly policy promises. But are they quite as significant as billed? How much room to manoeuvre…