Traditional Healers Seen as Key to Beating Marburg Virus

This article describes a communication campaign on the part of Angola's Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the World Health Organization, that seeks to help prevent the further outbreak of Marburg a highly infectious disease related to Ebola. The occurence of Marburg is centered in the northern Angolan province of Uige where 264 cases out of 275 have been recorded. The article states that two-hundred people have died so far.

According to this article, radio messages targeting Uige's more than 120 traditional healers were broadcast and posters were put up urging inhabitants of Uige to be treated with injections only at the hospital. This communication campaign began based on observations from Doctors who found evidence that traditional healers were treating individuals with used syringes. As stated in the article, "changing these habits has become a UNICEF priority."

The article describes a group of volunteers reaching out to inform traditional healers about ways to protect themselves and instructions on how to direct individuals to the hospital if they have symptoms that ressemble Marburg. A distribution point was created at the town centre's UNICEF office to give the
traditional healers protection gear such as gloves and soap.

The article indicates that the communication campaign was launched at the outset of the outbreak, and as a result, the number of new cases of Marburg has slowly dropped. In addition, the community is increasingly reporting signs of illness to healthcare workers instead of waiting to report deaths.