Ghana: Patients’ Beliefs About Illness Matter – The Case of Elephantiasis in Rural Ghana

Would you take medication for an illness you didn’t believe you had? Or if you disagreed with healthcare workers about the cause of your condition?

This is the dilemma of many people who live in areas of Ghana where a mosquito-borne disease called lymphatic filariasis, often referred to as elephantiasis, continues to spread.

Lymphatic filariasis, or LF as it is commonly known, is a neglected tropical disease which spreads through repeated bites by parasite-carrying mosquitoes. This infection…