<p>A qualitative study was carried out to assess the role of traditional healers in oral health care in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, South Africa. The aim and objectives of the study were to assess the oral care knowledge and practices among traditional healers, to determine the extent to which traditional healers can diagnose oral conditions and how they could be used in the provision of primary health care and prevention of the spread of HIV infection. Another objective was to use the information collected to serve as a guide for collaborative oral disease prevention programme development.</p> <p><br /> Three categories of traditional healers were identified in the sample: Isangomas, Nyangas and Umthandezelis. The average age of the sample was 45 years and the majority was female. Most healers were in training for between eight months and ten years. All traditional healers reported seeing patients with oral diseases and 93% reported that they referred patients elsewhere for additional help. All healers treated their patients with natural remedies. Seventy three per cent of the sample reported that they treated patients with HIV/AIDS. Less than 30% of the sample knew that AIDS was caused by a virus and 47% reported being &lsquo / told&rsquo / by the ancestors whether an oral disease was HIV/AIDS.</p> <p><br /> In this study traditional healers were shown a series of ten photographs of common oral diseases and oral HIV lesions and asked to identify as many lesions as possible. Following basic training and education about the causes and diagnostic features of the lesions, 100% of traditional healers were then able to identify aphthous ulcers, 80% Kaposi's sarcoma and 73% could recognize cancer of the tongue. These results showed that given proper education, traditional healers could play an important role in early detection of not only the common oral diseases but also the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS. In addition, most traditional healers are skilled in interpersonal relations and if provided with the correct information they could be very effective as AIDS councilors.</p> <p><br /> The traditional healers demonstrated good knowledge of the transmission, risk groups and prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS and they could serve as an important resource of information and should be incorporated in community based AIDS prevention and other programmes.</p>

No description available.

This study aims to explore the experiences of traditional healers who work in a hospital environment in a different capacity. A secondary aim of this inquiry is to look at how participants' perceptions of the interface between traditional and modern medicine in a hospital context influences their practices as both traditional healers and hospital employees. A snowball sampling strategy was employed and five suitable participants were identified through referral and post-interview selection. Participants were selected from a sample of South African-born women who have experienced an ancestral calling and initiation into African traditional healing, have been initiated as an Inyanga/iSangoma (diviner), and are presently working in a different vocational capacity in a hospital environment. All participants work and reside in Gauteng. Data was collected through two semi-structured interviews per participant. Interviews were based on an interview guide. In looking at participants' experience as traditional healers who work in a hospital and how their perceptions on the interface between traditional and modern medicine influence their traditional healing practices, four research questions have been identified: 1. How do participants perceive themselves as a traditional healer? 2. How do participants perceive and experience their work in the hospital? 3. How do participants perceive the interface between traditional and modern approaches to healing in a hospital context? 4. How do participants experience the perceptions of others at work? A qualitative approach was adopted in order to gain an in-depth understanding of participants' experiences. Data analysis was guided by narrative and thematic approaches. Thus results are presented in accordance with principles of narrative and thematic content analysis. Interpretation of data focused on the ways in which these women relate to their role as traditional healer in a different vocational capacity and how their perceptions reflect a broader dialogue on the relationship between traditional and modern healing modalities in a modern health care context. Participants felt empowered by some colleagues who consulted them on traditional healing skills and applied them to patients without constraint upon their working duties. All felt they needed their jobs to support a decent living as full-time work as traditional healers would not provide for all their needs. Implications for future research and collaboration between western and traditional healing systems are considered.

This dissertation is an analysis of the multiple legacies of one family's relationship with a spirit medium, and in so doing unpacks the historical and cultural mythologies around witchcraft, healing, envy, ghosts, unexplained accidents, stories of the supernatural, family curses, secrecy, and the gray spaces between religious faith and superstition in the small Visayan town of Santa Barbara, Iloilo, located in the central region of the Philippine Islands. My inquiry takes place at the intersection of two converging horizons of the unknown, healing and sorcery on the one hand and on the other the uncertain future posed by the forces of globalization and the acceleration of natural disaster due to rapid climate change in the region. It contextualizes the voice of the "native" ethnographer doing fieldwork among family, within a larger set of questions around inheritance, transmission, and ethics.

This study aims to identify traditional medicines which people use in Babati District, Tanzania and to find out which direction the local use and knowledge of traditional medicine is taking in comparison with modern medicine (MM). It is a case study based both on primary and secondary sources. The primary information was gathered with the help of semi-structured interviews and shorter enquiries with people of all categories that use herbal remedies or visit bone fixers and with women that are supported by traditional midwifes. For simple health problems people use TM, for more complicated cases, they go to the hospital. A difference between Babati urban and rural inhabitants was noticed in the usage of traditional and modern medicine, but not between poor and rich people, opinions being slightly different. The Tanzanian government does not encourage the implementation of the TM in the modern medical system and as long as the young generation is not interested to learn the secrets of their parents‟ vocation, this knowledge is threatened by being forgotten. All the herbs used in TM will most likely find their way into the modern pharmacy; however because of the lack of documentation and statistics, it can take up to one hundred years. For this purpose, the gap between TM and MM has to narrow through a better collaboration between all the involved parts.

No description available.

In Uganda there is a gap between the coverage of cARV programs and the number of people who require treatment. Community-based initiatives are necessary to scale-up cARV programs. Healers have been shown to be able to play a role in other aspects of HIV care including prevention. This study assessed the potential to include healers in Kabarole district in community-based cARV programs to increase program coverage in this rural area. We completed 219 questionnaires and quantified knowledge of HIV/AIDS, attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients, previous experience in collaborating with conventional medical care, and willingness to collaborate to provide cARVs to their villagemates. Multivariate modeling identified characteristics of types of healers that may make them more suitable for collaboration. Qualitative analysis indicated that both healers and health care workers would be willing to work together to try and improve care for HIV/AIDS patients. / Global Health

<p>A qualitative study was carried out to assess the role of traditional healers in oral health care in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, South Africa. The aim and objectives of the study were to assess the oral care knowledge and practices among traditional healers, to determine the extent to which traditional healers can diagnose oral conditions and how they could be used in the provision of primary health care and prevention of the spread of HIV infection. Another objective was to use the information collected to serve as a guide for collaborative oral disease prevention programme development.</p> <p><br /> Three categories of traditional healers were identified in the sample: Isangomas, Nyangas and Umthandezelis. The average age of the sample was 45 years and the majority was female. Most healers were in training for between eight months and ten years. All traditional healers reported seeing patients with oral diseases and 93% reported that they referred patients elsewhere for additional help. All healers treated their patients with natural remedies. Seventy three per cent of the sample reported that they treated patients with HIV/AIDS. Less than 30% of the sample knew that AIDS was caused by a virus and 47% reported being &lsquo / told&rsquo / by the ancestors whether an oral disease was HIV/AIDS.</p> <p><br /> In this study traditional healers were shown a series of ten photographs of common oral diseases and oral HIV lesions and asked to identify as many lesions as possible. Following basic training and education about the causes and diagnostic features of the lesions, 100% of traditional healers were then able to identify aphthous ulcers, 80% Kaposi's sarcoma and 73% could recognize cancer of the tongue. These results showed that given proper education, traditional healers could play an important role in early detection of not only the common oral diseases but also the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS. In addition, most traditional healers are skilled in interpersonal relations and if provided with the correct information they could be very effective as AIDS councilors.</p> <p><br /> The traditional healers demonstrated good knowledge of the transmission, risk groups and prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS and they could serve as an important resource of information and should be incorporated in community based AIDS prevention and other programmes.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-211). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29513

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Bruce Grindal, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 26, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 83 pages. Includes bibliographical references.