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VIDEO: Lessons from Ebola: Local Customs Matter

Published 07/20/2015 by Global Communities

VIDEO: Lessons from Ebola: Local Customs Matter

InterAction 2015 Humanitarian Award recipient George Woryonwon tells Devex how safe burials were the key to driving down Ebola cases in Liberia.
One of the reasons Ebola spread quickly was because families took care of the sick and buried their dead according to local customs. It was hard to tell people to turn away from tradition and have their dead cremated instead, George Woryonwon shared in a Devex video interview.
A program manager for Global Communities, Woryonwon led a team that assisted in the carrying out safe burials and disinfection across Liberia, a major contributing factor in driving down Ebola cases in the country. He received the InterAction 2015 Humanitarian Award for his team’s contributions.