Faith Engagement and Faith Sensitive Behavior Change Messaging: An Alternate Model to Social Behavior Change Communication in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Outbreak Response in Sierra Leone: Abstract

"The urgent need to engage faith leaders and deliver faith sensitive messaging was evident. In Sierra Leone Muslims and Christians transcend mere interfaith tolerance; they are highly trusted and esteemed.

This World Vision (WV) Channels of Hope (COH) programme presentation for the International SBCC Summit 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 8-10, describes engaging religious leaders to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone.

From the abstract:
"The 2014–2015 epidemic of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) severely affected Sierra Leone, together with other two West African countries Guinea and Liberia. As EVD ravaged through Sierra Leone, the complexity of cultural and religious practices, stigma, denial and discrimination negatively affected utilization of health services and hindered health systems' interaction with affected communities. The urgent need to engage faith leaders and deliver faith sensitive messaging was evident. In Sierra Leone Muslims and Christians transcend mere interfaith tolerance; they are highly trusted and esteemed. Their peace-building efforts with rebel and government forces helped halt the country’s bitter 10-year civil war in 2002. They have continued to promote unity and foster development in one of the world’s poorest countries that faces unrelenting social and economic challenges. In response, World Vision’s (WV) Channels of Hope (COH) program combined scientific information and theology while strengthening interfaith collaboration and engaging religious leaders, both Muslim and Christian.

Key highlights:
COH Ebola trained faith leaders (Christian, Muslim, Traditional chiefs and healers) who reached 371,580 community members. WV and partners also trained and equipped 803 workers (including 86 women) to conduct safe, dignified burials for Ebola victims and others that preserve sacred faith traditions, while preventing contamination of family members. Since November 2014, more than 24,000 people, in 10 districts across Sierra Leone (as of July 2, 2015) were buried with safety and dignity. Faith leaders contributed to the development of the revised WHO safe and dignified burial protocol, and then put it into action. In WV projects areas, none of the 58,000 World Vision-sponsored children in Sierra Leone contracted Ebola."