Drs. Armand Sprecher and Adi Nadimpalli, MSF: on-the-ground in the eastern DRC Ebola crisis

This is the Common Health Podcast, a product of the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security.

We engage with diverse leaders on the question of how best to navigate this period of exceptional turmoil, reform, and uncertainty in U.S. leadership.

We are aided throughout by our able producer, Marla Hiller.

I'm delighted today to be joined by two experts from MSF, Doctors Without Borders, who have each been recently very active operationally in Eastern Congo.

We're joined by Armand Sprecher, who's an emergency physician and epidemiologist, has worked with MSF since 1997, which I understand makes you a young dinosaur in the internal parlance of MSF.

He's been involved with filovirus outbreak response since 2000, including working in the field during the outbreaks in Uganda, Angola, Democratic Republic, Congo, West Africa, Rwanda.

He works also as a health informatics analyst and public health specialist for MSF based in Brussels.

I am.

And has worked with the International Medical Corps and the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service.

He was in Ituri province early July through early August.

Our other guest is Adi Nadimpalli.

He's a humanitarian health worker and physician trained in internal medicine, pediatrics, intensive care, previously served as vice president of MSF USA 2012 to 14, working primarily with Doctors Without Borders alongside global NGOs and academic institutions.

He's responded to epidemics, armed conflict, displacements, across South Sudan, Liberia, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Palestine, including Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem, and the DR Congo.

Has specialized expertise in point-of-care ultrasound.

Develop and lead training programs across Niger, South Sudan, CAR, and India.

And he serves between deployments as an ICU physician in Texas, actively engages with students and trainees, exploring careers in global health and NGOs.

Adi was in North Kivu July and August of this summer.

Welcome to you both.

I'm really very grateful that you're making time to be with us today.

And I also want to thank Ella Watson Stryker of MSF Washington University.

for helping pull us all together today.

This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't flagged that it was possible and to reach you both and bring you in.

Okay, let's start.

One of the features is this outbreak.

It's already spread over a large area of eastern DRC, now in seven provinces, including one that's non-contiguous over by the border of Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville.