Matthew discusses the work of the Department's vaccine group on Ebola vaccines on 'Pikin to Pikin Tok' (which means child to child talk in the local language Krio), a radio series launched during the Ebola crisis. You can listen to the programme here.
The UK child rights agency 'Child to Child' and their partner in Sierra Leone, 'the Pikin to Pikin movement' were running a project in the east of Sierra Leone (in the impoverished Kailahun region where the first case of Ebola was reported) since 2011. This project aimed to enhance children's social, literacy, numeracy and life skills, but the Ebola crisis meant that the NGO's work, which required children to come together in groups, had to stop due to the health risk such gatherings would create.
'Child to Child' decided to turn to radio and commissioned radio producer Penny Boreham, who also works for BBC World Service, to produce the programmes about staying healthy during the crisis and its aftermath.
The radio project, which broadcasts Storytime programmes, music programmes and special programmes like this one on the new Ebola vaccines, is funded by Comic Relief and presented by Sierra Leonean storyteller, Usifu Jalloh.