In rural areas there are very few doctors, so families generally take the patient to a traditional healer first. The healer might try to exorcise the Jinn (spirits) with holy water and readings from the Koran. Joyce Allison met one female witch-doctor who held “clinic hours” and spoke to male patients in a dramatic, high-pitched voice, as if she was “possessed”

Photograph: Allison Joyce/Redux/eyevine