Old Wives’ Tale Creates Delays In Measles Treatment In Somalia

Associated Press: In Somalia, a wives’ tale delays measles treatment
“…Somalia is suffering from an outbreak of measles that the World Health Organization and the U.N. children’s agency labels ‘extremely alarming.’… Many children in the country are malnourished and few have access to medical care, making an outbreak potentially dangerous for thousands of others. One additional danger that prevents early medical intervention is the belief by many parents that they should keep measles-infected children at home for a week for what they call an ‘incubation’ period…” (Guled, 6/11).

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