KAMPALA— Witchcraft and witch doctors are ineffective against Ebola, the minister of Health of Uganda, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, said.   

She added that ignorance and carelessness are responsible for the spread of the disease in this East African country, where 55 people have died since the outbreak of the disease in September.

Fifty other suspected cases have died, but it has not been confirmed due to a lack of medical certification. According to official statistics, 764 cases are currently under observation due to contacts with infected persons.

She warned that the Ebola virus ‘can devastate and bring a nation to its knees as it did in West Africa,’ referring to the outbreak of the disease that devastated five countries in the continent between 2014 and 2016: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal, and it also appeared in the United States and the United Kingdom.

She explained that combating the disease in rural Uganda is hampered by believes in witchcraft, misconceptions and disobedience of healthcare protocols.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK