Photographing war, disease and nuclear accidents with Simon Townsley

On this week’s episode of Battle Lines Global Health Security,
international photojournalist Simon Townsley joins Arthur
Scott-Geddes and Sophie O’Sullivan to share his most memorable
photographs of 2025. 


From visiting mpox quarantine zones in Sierra Leone, to bat caves
infected with marburg virus, Simon explains the value and
pitfalls of ‘parachute’ journalism.  


This year alone, Simon has traveled to Sierra Leone, Guyana,
Sudan, Chad, Zambia, Honduras, Kazakhstan, and Burundi. He
reflects on how the world has changed in his nearly 40 years of
work, and why now people often mistake him as Chinese.


Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/X5p4hvB_cSA


View Simon's images:


Guyana’s oil bonanza: Will the vast wealth it is generating ever
trickle down?


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/guyana-oil-boom-wealth-inequality/


‘It’s all dead now... nothing will grow’: Fish and hippos
dissolve in polluted acid river


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/zambia-river-pollution-china-industrial-investment/


Inside the Red Zone: Sierra Leone’s terrifying mpox outbreak


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/inside-sierra-leones-terrifying-mpox-outbreak/


Atomic bombs destroyed their lives – now they want Russia to pay


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/soviet-union-nuclear-testing-atomic-bomb-kazakhstan/


‘I poured gasoline then set fire to my clothes – the flames shot
up my body’


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/kurdistan-iraq-suicide-self-immolation-domestic-violence/


‘My child is gone... life is empty’: agony of Ukrainian mother
collecting her son from the morgue


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/child-gone-life-empty-agony-ukrainian-mother-collecting-son/


Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan


Executive Producer: Louisa Wells


Studio Operator: Meghan Searle


Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look
forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest
stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor


Contact us with feedback or ideas:


battlelines@telegraph.co.uk 


@venetiarainey


@ascottgeddes


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.