Ebola crisis: Witchcraft warning after arson attack on MSF centre

Ebola outbreak Congo

The Ebola outbreak is now the second-worst in history (Image: GETTY)

Phillips Stevens, from the University at Buffalo, made his remarks in the wake of the arson attacks on the facilities in the towns of Katwa and Butembo. Both areas were run by international aid organisation Medecins San Frontieres (MSF), which has now suspended its activities in both areas. Professor Stevens, who is the university’s Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology, emphasised he was not commenting specifically on the MSF incidents – but told Express.co.uk: “Throughout history and all around the world, beliefs in witchcraft intensify during times of general social anxiety – anxiety over anything perceived as threatening our welfare, anything with economic, political/military, geographic/environmental, or supernatural cause.”

Both sorcery and witchcraft are believed real in most parts of Africa today

Professor Phillips Stevens

In such circumstances people tended to look for a human cause, he said, adding: “A fundamental fact of social living is that tensions and hostilities develop among people living in close proximity to each other, and it easier to blame another person than oneself, or a supernatural being.

“Both sorcery and witchcraft are believed real in most parts of Africa today. 

“Traditional societies had a variety of sanctions, depending on the severity of the case. 

“European colonial powers established laws against witchcraft, mirroring the laws in their own countries, some of which were holdovers from medieval times. 

Congo Ebola

MSF staff at MSF’s Beni transit centre get ready for their round in the high risk area (Image: MSF)

Ebola virus MSF

Two Ebola treatment centres have been torched in recent days (Image: GETTY/MSF)

“In the colonies sorcery/witchcraft was a crime, subject to judicial proceeding. After independence some of these laws have been repealed and not replaced, because they are marks of “primitive” beliefs that people want to leave behind. 

“So, often victims have no legal recourse; and legal authorities have no clear guidelines to control angry mobs conducting local witch hunts.”

Prof. Stevens said wherever there was a belief in witchcraft, there was consequently a belief in traditional “remedial mechanisms” ranging from counter-acting to purification and protection, which could prevent such mobs taking the law into their own hands.

He explained: “In my experience these should be employed first, to convince the victim within his/her own cultural system that the evil has been removed. 

MSF treatment centre

The charred remains of the MSF treatment centre in Butembo (Image: WHO)

“This is why the traditional ‘witch doctor’ can be successful, where the western doctor is probably not. Denying the reality of the belief is rarely successful. 

“Efforts to change peoples’ thinking, in effect to change their reality, must be carefully planned, after an understanding of the peoples’ concepts of cause and effect has been achieved.”

To complicate matters, traditional beliefs could also co-exist with an understanding of modern science, he stressed, citing the example of a schoolteacher who had told South African social anthropologist Monica Wilson she understood a typhus was caused by a microbe which was carried by a louse, but suggested sorcery could direct the louse to bit one person and next person next to him or her. 

He added: “The CDC and WHO and USAID and other similar agencies know this, and that’s why they employ anthropologists in situations involving disruptive cultural intervention, especially situations involving poorly-understood epidemic disease.”

Dr Joanne Liu

Dr Joanne Liu has said health agencies are struggling to get to grips with the outbreak (Image: GETTY)

The DRC outbreak of the deadly disease is now the second-worst in history – as of Monday, there were a total of 907 cases, 841 of whom were confirmed to have the virus. So far 569 people have died.

The attack on the Katwe centre resulted in the death of one man, believed to be the brother of somebody being treated at the facility, although the circumstances surrounding the tragedy remain unclear.

Both centres have now reopened, but are being run by the DRC’s Ministry of Health in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Speaking after the Katwe attack, the DRC’s health minister, Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said all those responding to the crisis were aware that the security situation in the region, notably the presence of numerous armed rival militia groups, would be a factor which would make the work of the teams more difficult.

Oly Ilunga Kalenga

Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga has condemned the attacks (Image: Africa News)

However, what was notable in the situation of the town of Butembo was that the violence shown to the medical teams had come not from armed groups but from the community itself, he said.

His words echoed those of Julie Lobali, a nurse working in Mbandaka, a port city on the Congo River in the north-west of the country, who told the MedicalXpress website in May 2018: “Some sick people believe that the Ebola epidemic comes from sorcery – they refuse to be treated and prefer to pray.”

Speaking on Thursday, Dr Joanne Liu, International President of MSF, said health agencies were failing to get the upper hand on the outbreak.

She said: “We have a striking contradiction: on the one hand a rapid and large outbreak response with new medical tools such as vaccines and treatments that show promising outcomes when people come early – and on the other hand, people with Ebola are dying in their communities, and do not trust the Ebola response enough to come forward.”

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Express.co.uk: “Alongside the response in the country, WHO and many other partners are working together to focus on community engagement to help end this outbreak. Successful community engagement is critical to stop transmission.

“As part of this effort, US CDC social and behavioural scientists are working closely with IFRC volunteers who are engaging and educating DRC community members about Ebola and gathering information on individuals’ beliefs, observations, questions, and suggestions about combating Ebola.

“Overarching themes from community feedback include: ongoing frustration that the outbreak is still occurring and questions around why the epidemic has not ended, misconceptions about the safety of emergency treatment centres (ETCs), questions about why more women are being effected Ebola, high interest in receiving vaccinations and the desire to receive more information and updates on the epidemic.”

source: express.co.uk