locals believe in witchs, not disease vectors

[DrLeftover]

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

30 Jul 2014

A British doctor fighting the devastating Ebola outbreak in west Africa has told how belief in witchcraft is hampering the fight to stop the spread of the deadly disease.

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’.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sierraleone/11001610/Ebola-outbreak-fight-against-disease-hampered-by-belief-in-witchcraft-warns-British-doctor.html

 

[Evil Eye]

Their loss I should think.

 

[DrLeftover]

But in the spirit of diversity and inclusion of all cultures, shouldn't the UN and its member states mandate that their beliefs be taken into account and prevent groups like Doctors Without Borders from going in there and treating them?