BBC World Service Launches Ebola Radio Network For West Africa

London, Monday 22nd September. The BBC World Service is launching special Ebola broadcasts for West Africa starting today (Monday 22nd September). Each evening shortwave transmissions to the region will be increased. There will be a round-up of News concentrating on efforts to combat the virus particularly to the three worst affected countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

News About West Africa will be a 9-minute daily programme (Monday to Friday) broadcast live at 19:50 GMT around the world and presented by BBC Africa's Kim Chakanetsa. Through local stories, correspondents and interviews, the broadcast will include the latest information about local, regional and international effort to contain and combat the disease. There is a great deal of new information emerging about how best to respond to Ebola and the programme aims to share that with an African and global audience.

BBC Africa in conjunction with the BBC's international development charity, Media Action, has since August been broadcasting two weekly Ebola bulletins on the BBC's English, French and Hausa services.

BBC Media Action has also been helping to tackle dangerous misinformation about the disease in a new radio programme. Kick Ebola Nar Salone (Kick Ebola out of Sierra Leone), is a 30-minute show produced weekly and broadcast three times a week on 35 partner stations across the country.

Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC World Service Group says: "Lack of knowledge and myths about the disease are killing people as surely as Ebola is. Quality information from both within and outside the countries affected about how the risks of Ebola can be safely managed will save lives. The range of emergency activities on Ebola from the BBC World Service are in the finest traditions of the humanitarian instincts of our broadcasting.”

This week's programming includes:

Assignment (Thursday 25th September) will hear from a wide variety of people living through the three-day lock-down in Sierra Leone as the authorities hope to restrict the spread of the disease.

A special edition of BBC Africa Debate (Friday 26th September) from Ghana will look at the state of Africa's health systems in the light of the Ebola outbreak. The debate will be hosted by BBC Africa's Akwasi Sarpong, and broadcaster and health practitioner, Dr Graham Easton.

Over the weekend, Mike Williams asked why people risk their lives for strangers as they talk to health workers who return to the packed West African hospitals to help those with the disease in The Why Factor.

For more information please contact: Sophie West – [email protected]/ +44 (0) 7718 117 723

The shortwave frequencies for West Africa are 9915 kHz and 12095 kHz.

The BBC attracts a weekly global audience of 265 million people to its international news services including BBC World Service, BBC World News television channel and bbc.com/news.

BBC World Service

BBC World Service is an international multimedia broadcaster, delivering a wide range of language and regional services on radio, TV, online and via wireless handheld devices. It uses multiple platforms to reach its weekly audience of 191 million globally, including shortwave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels. Its news sites include audio and video content and offer opportunities to join the global debate. BBC World Service offers its multilingual radio content to partner FM stations around the world and has numerous partnerships supplying content to news websites, mobile phones and other wireless handheld devices as well as TV channels. For more information, visit bbc.com/worldservice.

BBC World Service's BBC Africa hub brings together the production of multilingual content about the continent on radio, on TV and online on bbcafrica.com. As it delivers content in English, French, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Somali and Kiswahili, BBC Africa ensures a pan-African approach to the output, offering its audiences opportunities to join the global conversation. BBC Africa has teams based in London and across much of sub-Saharan Africa, and has well established production centres in various cities.

BBC Media Action is the BBC's international development charity and uses media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in understanding their rights. Its aim is to inform, connect and empower people around the world. BBC Media Action's programmes always adhere to BBC editorial values and editorial policy. BBC Media Action reaches some 200 million people through local broadcast partners, BBC channels (especially the BBC World Service), online, mobile and print platforms and through interpersonal communication. For more information visit www.bbcmediaaction.org

BBC Media Action is registered in England and Wales under Charity Commission number 1076235 and Company number 3521587.