Health: Manafwa village health teams get life
Village health teams in Manafwa, Uganda, are receiving specialized training to better identify and manage neurological conditions in children. The initiative aims to combat local stigma and misconceptions that often attribute these medical issues to witchcraft.
Why it matters
Improving local medical literacy and training community health workers is critical for reducing preventable child mortality in regions where traditional beliefs often delay professional care.
________________ For many years, parents in Bugisu sub-region and other parts of the country have attributed their children's neurological ailments to witchcraft from their neighbours or relatives. Justin Chelengat, a clinical officer at Bubulo Health Centre IV in Manafwa district, says she once received a mother whose child was suffering from hydrocephalus yet she was insisting that an old woman in her village had cast spells on the child. "The child was in a bad condition, but the mother was convinced that her child had been bewitched by an old woman she [child] met a village well. She explained that she had taken her child to many witchdoctors in both Kenya and Uganda; they had all told her it was witchcraft. On examining the child, however, I discovered that he [child] was suffering from hydrocephalus. We treated the child, but unfortunately the child later passed away.
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