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West Africa and Pakistan

Mark Doyle explains how Ebola is damaging the fabric of everyday social life as well as health; Shabnam Mahmood sees a gulf between rich and poor at a lavish wedding in Karachi.

International headlines have focused on the deaths and the suffering of those infected, but Mark Doyle finds that Ebola has also been damaging the fabric of everyday life across west Africa. Everything from traditional greetings (handshakes, fingersnaps and kisses) to food shopping has been affected - and for some communities where survival relies on daily work and provisioning, a planned "lockdown" might be impossible to enforce.

In Pakistan, Shabnam Mahmood has been dealing with a slower, more silent scourge - that of deep social inequality. At a lavish wedding in Karachi, she was moved by the obvious divide between masters and servants, rich and poor.

(Photo: Public health advocates at an Ebola awareness and prevention event in Monrovia, Liberia. Credit:John Moore/Getty Images)

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10 minutes

Last on

Mon 22 Sep 2014 14:50GMT

Broadcast

  • Mon 22 Sep 2014 14:50GMT