Body and soul: how a priest in Amhara is helping protect his flock from disease
Father Lealem Getahun’s vocation may be the salvation of the soul, but that hasn't stopped him campaigning for his community's safety here on earth.
- 23 August 2024
- 4 min read
- by Abinet Bihonegn
Eyoel Kebede, a 49-year-old father of six from Bahir Dar, the capital of Ethiopia’s Amhara region, says his family would probably have missed out on vaccination against COVID-19 and, more recently, against cholera, if it hadn’t been for the intervention of his religious confessor, Father Lealem Getahun.
Father Lealem, a 65-year-old priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and deputy head of the Amhara Religious Institutions Council, is known locally as a committed advocate for vaccination.
He has led by public example: when COVID-19 vaccines began to roll out locally, Father Lealem, together with other religious leaders and health professionals, was among the first to receive one. Similarly, when oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) were distributed late last year to contain an outbreak, Father Lealem and some of his clerical colleagues volunteered to receive a dose before gathered members of the media.
According to Sefi Derib, an expert with the Amhara Regional Public Health Institute, their displays of confidence “greatly contributed” to improving vaccine acceptance in the community.
He has leveraged the social authority his vocation gives him by speaking out on the need to trust credible sources, like health authorities and medical professionals, for information about vaccines, or by helping negotiate access for vaccinators to conflict-ridden parts of the region.
But he has also campaigned for vaccination in a much more intimate context, using his role as a spiritual guide – a father confessor – to advocate one-on-one for a very corporeal kind of salvation.
Body and soul
Amhara, a war zone since April 2023, has faced periods of armed conflict for even longer. Studies have shown that these conditions have had various negative impacts on public health provision, including on vaccination services, with one recent research paper showing Amhara’s rates of immunisation lagging significantly behind Addis Ababa and Oromia.
Amid the turmoil of conflict, the trust between spiritual father and worshipper has proven a stable nexus. Many followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church have a regular monthly meeting with their Father of Confession, an opportunity the Amhara Regional Religious Institutions Council, an allegiance of seven regional religious institutions, realised could be leveraged against contagious disease, which often thrives in war.
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“The established religious platform allows the Father [the priest] and the adherent believer to have a man-to-man conversation about the importance of vaccination for public health,” Father Lealem explains.
While not all religious leaders approached by the Council were as positively inclined towards vaccines as Father Lealem, the impact those clerics who were willing to take up the cause were able to make was significant: one religious father can be the “father of confession” to up to 500 households, Father Lealem told VaccinesWork.
Lay allegiance
Father Lealem points out that much of the impetus for his efforts comes from a lay institution: the Amhara Public Health Institute (APHI), which has conducted bilateral discussions with the Amhara Regional Religious Council ahead of every vaccination campaign with the aim of raising awareness among religious leaders and involving them in the drive. As a consequence, Father Lealem says, most religious leaders understand the importance of vaccines and the challenge facing public health authorities.
That partnership has proven especially important in the management of epidemic risk around sacred “holy water” pilgrimage destinations. According to APHI, overcrowding and poor sanitation at these sites have led to cholera outbreaks.
Moreover, some of the faithful have been known to stop taking even regularly prescribed medications at these sites, due to a profound belief in the power of the holy water to cure them.
"This year, I have been raising awareness for pilgrimage about the importance of cholera vaccinations at Andassa St George, Abu Hara and other holy water sites in Bahir Dar City and nearby areas. I have been working within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and have also empowered other religious leaders to promote the vaccine at these sacred locations," said Father Lealem.
According to the Religious Institutions Council, Ethiopian Orthodox Church religious leaders have also facilitated the transportation cholera of vaccines to remote Ethiopian Orthodox Church holy water sites in partnership with APHI. Due to the continuing warfare in the region, religious leaders have engaged in negotiations with the armed actors, to allow health professionals to administer cholera and cervical cancer vaccines in areas under militant control, the organisation said.
