Choosing modern medicine over traditional healers in Ebola-affected Guinea

In many African societies, traditional healers are solicited for many reasons. They are called healers or witch doctors for their talents in hunting evil spells and for their mastery of medicinal plants. They are listened to and respected by communities who have full confidence and trust in their skills. It is how these men and women earn a living.

During the Ebola epidemic response, traditional healers were quickly identified as key actors to help raise awareness about the disease in communities, particularly in remote areas where they maintain close relationships with the people they serve.

Doumbouya Idrissa is a traditional healer and President of the Traditional Healers Network of the Lower Guinea region in Guinea. Known as Simbo, which means “strong man” in Sussu, one of the local languages, he played a key role in the mobilization of traditional healers and their commitment to help end the outbreak through the sharing of knowledge on symptoms and preventive measures.

"My first mission was to talk with my colleagues on the dangers they were exposed to by manipulating patients without any protection. Considering the large number of patients we were receiving daily, the safe practice of our work required understanding of the epidemic, how the virus is transmitted, what the early symptoms are, and especially how to avoid being contaminated," says Doumbouya.

The commitment of traditional healers to the design and dissemination of key communication messages was a great asset to Red Cross community engagement efforts. It also brought significant changes to the way traditional healers were working.

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