by Virginia Kapembeza
In the absence of an effective cure of HIV/AIDS it has become imperative to enlist the support of traditional healers in education campaigns as they are highly respected and influential in their communities.
Many health programmes, for example, have included traditional healers in their primary health care activities in the fight against Aids. There are two systems of health care delivery, modern medicine and traditional medicine by faith healers, herbalists, midwives and spiritualists.
Faith healers use prayer and holy water to heal, herbalists use herbs and drugs for different ailments, traditional midwives are trained to work as birth attendants and spiritualists depend on ancestral spirits for healing powers.
Aids and its attendant need for constant medical attention coupled with increased hospital fees has forced people to opt for traditional healers, most of whom charge relatively lower prices by comparison.
A Zimbabwean n’anga (traditional healer) Benjamin Burombo has stirred controversy by claiming that he has a cure for Aids. He charges more than US$250 consultation fees. He has publicly attacked the health ministry which he accuses of trying to steal his medicines and patent.
Although it is unclear whether Burombo truly has an Aids cure or not, the fact is that many people flock to him for help.
The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha) however, is wary of declaring that there is an Aids cure. Instead, the association says, some traditional medicines can reverse the symptoms of Aids as evidenced when some patients showed good health after undergoing treatment.
There has been a lot of mudslinging between the health ministry and Zinatha as a result. The president of Zinatha, Gordon Chavunduka, says that the ministry has not been very cooperative despite the results of the tests with traditional medicine.
But the health minister, Timothy Stamps, says traditional medicine has been ineffective against Aids and any claims implying that it is mischievous and could reverse the gains of the safe-sex campaign.
Zinatha is the umbrella body for more than 35 000 traditional healers in the country. In February 1990, the association embarked on a community based health programme for traditional healers on HIV/Aids awareness, prevention and care after it discovered that some 80% of the population consult traditional healers. With the crippling hospital costs the figure could be much more.
Some people have, however, expressed concern at the role of traditional healers concerning Aids. This is because the healers can transmit Aids through the multiple use of skin piercing instruments such as razor blades, or contract it through traditional midwives delivering babies of infected mothers. Health education for Aids seeks to ensure that traditional healers use properly sterilized equipment for any treatment requiring the piercing of the skin.
Some traditional healers associate some of the symptoms of Aids such as diarrhoea and weight loss to some diseases that have always been there such as runyoka (disease associated with adultery).
Most still do not recognize condoms as a preventive measure because of the strong cultural beliefs which associate condoms with promiscuity. Some on the other hand are unwilling to refer some of their patients to health institutions.
Zinatha hopes to foster greater cooperation between traditional and modern medicine. Chavunduka, called for more research on traditional medicine. The association says since doctors concentrate on biological and physical causes of illness and traditional healers concentrate on the social, cultural and spiritual aspects closer cooperation could yield better results.
“By pooling our ideas and resources together we stand a better chance of finding a cure for the deadly disease”, says Misheck Sibanda, Zinatha’s national Aids coordinator.
Some sectors in the health ministry, however, appreciate the need for cooperation between doctors and traditional healers. “We need the traditional healers’ support in preventing the spread of Aids and in caring for sick patients at home”, says Evaristo Marowa, Zimbabwe’s National Aids Control Programme director.
Currently, however, the relationship between the two is one of suspicion and mistrust. “The problem with our authorities and the medical fraternity is that if it is not from Europe, it does not work. They don’t want a cure to be found in Africa”, says Joshua Mandava, a traditional healer.
In Zambia, the government has recognized traditional healers after discovering that the latter provide 80 percent of the health delivery system in the country.
Initial lack of support from traditional leaders, some of whom refused to admit that Aids is a new disease, threatened to hamper the campaign. Others publicly claimed to have a cure for the deadly disease or to prevent HIV infection.
The national education campaign comprises of an intersectoral health committee on Aids which involves traditional healers. Aids Action, the Aids programme in Zambia, identified traditional healers as both a target for education and part of the solution through their being possible victims and natural counsellors in traditional societies.
Activities of traditional health practitioners, an estimated 35 000, are coordinated by the traditional medical unit and the Traditional Health Practitioners’ Association of Zambia (THPAZ).
Despite the inevitable misunderstandings, there is hope in that interactive discussions involving all sectors to train healers in Aids education have managed, to some extent, to complement efforts by governments. (SARDC)
