Wall Street Journal: Africa’s Village Healers Complicate Ebola Fight
“…[O]fficials and health workers got residents to change behavior, accept modern medicine and break a chain of deadly infections. An important part of that work has zeroed in on dispelling rumors and debunking miracle cures health workers say [a traditional healer] peddled in the village of Kpondu, the suspected source of Sierra Leone’s outbreak. The resistance they met from villagers underscores a little-understood dynamic in the Ebola epidemic: Healers in parts of Africa — both herbal and faith-based — are often more highly regarded than those who come to promote more unfamiliar forms of medical care…” (Wonacott, 11/17).