Former ‘Ebola czar’ on the current outbreak in Africa

More than a decade ago, Ron Klain helped orchestrate the U.S. response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, as the White House Ebola response coordinator under President Obama. Now, with a fast-growing outbreak of a different strain of Ebola, in a different part of Africa, the public health infrastructure to address an outbreak has vastly changed, following the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID. In this episode, Klain talks about the role USAID played in responding to the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, and assesses whether today’s outbreak poses more or less of a risk to people in the United States.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. This episode was produced by Christopher Harland-Dunaway, Kathryn Fink and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Gisele Grayson. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy