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The Ebola Virus and a Little-loved Airline

Will Ross on why the international health workers who've come to tackle the Ebola virus in west Africa are not always welcome. Rob Crilly takes a disappointing flight to Pakistan.

You might think that the main problems facing doctors trying to deal with Ebola in West Africa would be medical, but politics comes into it too. Will Ross finds that poor administration, distrust of the West and a lack of education are hindering attempts to deal with the outbreak of the disease.

Once upon a time, the Pakistani city of Karachi was considered the natural transit point for air passengers moving between Western Europe and East Asia, but those days are long gone. Now Karachi is so violent very few foreigners visit and most of the transit passengers now stop off in Dubai instead. This decline is echoed by Pakistan International Airlines, which has attracted negative press coverage and even more negative nicknames. Rob Crilly takes an unsatisfactory flight and meets the man who believes he can revive the airline's fortunes.

Presented by Owen Bennett Jones
Produced by Laura Gray

Picture: Nurses wearing protective suits escort a man infected with the Ebola virus to a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. (ZOOM DOSSO/AFP/Getty Images)

Available now

10 minutes

Last on

Thu 28 Aug 2014 19:50GMT

Broadcast

  • Thu 28 Aug 2014 19:50GMT