Congo’s traditional healers are on the front line of Ebola fight

BUNIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – In her garden, traditional healer Mariam Kabika looked for ingredients for a concoction to treat Ebola, a deadly virus spreading in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I’m looking for eucalyptus leaves, avocado leaves, mango leaves and papaya leaves,” said Kabika, a healer in the city of Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, at the center of the latest Ebola outbreak.

Ituri lies in the east of the vast country, a mineral-rich but poor region ravaged by decades of conflict where state services are largely absent.