Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Ebola outbreak: fight against disease hampered by belief in witchcraft, warns British doctor

 

Benjamin Black, 32, a volunteer with the charity Médecins Sans Frontières in Sierra Leone, said that some of those in infected areas were not seeking medical treatment as they thought the disease was the work of sorcerers. Belief in witchcraft and traditional medicine is still prevalent in parts of west Africa, particularly the remote rural areas of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia where the outbreak has been concentrated.In an interview with The Telegraph, Dr Black, who completed a four-day stint earlier this week at an Ebola treatment clinic in Kailahun, near Sierra Leone’s northern border with Guinea, said: “There is a section of population here who simply don’t believe Ebola is real, they think it is witchcraft and so they don’t come to the treatment centres."Sometimes, even those who turn up at clinics with symptoms of the disease will be resistant to the idea that they have it. They will say 'yes, people in my family have died already, but this is witchcraft rather than Ebola’."
  • 2 months later...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.