The devil in health
As science sheds light on disease causation, attributing ill health to the devil is shifting to the periphery more and more. Take the example of Kilifi in the days when malaria was killing hundreds of children a year. A child that had cerebral malaria was thought to have been attacked by a spirit that hated bad smells and children suffering from convulsions were exposed to bad smells to drive the spirits away. Cerebral malaria has a high fatality rate and