‘Lullaby mothers’, who cared for children orphaned or separated from their parents, will not be allowed to volunteer during this outbreak Verity Bowman Verity Bowman is The Telegraph’s Foreign and Global Health Security Reporter, covering conflict, human rights abuses, global development and international health issues, with a particular focus on Ukraine. She previously worked as a News Reporter at the Guardian and was named on the Press Awards' 30 Under 30 list in 2024. See more Published 20 May 2026 5:35pm BST When Ebola tore through the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020, one of the few glimmers of hope to emerge from the devastation were the “lullaby mothers” – survivors who, protected by their own immunity, cared for infants orphaned by the disease . Yet we are unlikely to see the same with the current outbreak now sweeping central Africa . It is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola and the pool of survivors from past outbreaks is much smaller.…