Tag Archives: traditional healers

Cultural effects of the Ebola crisis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted on by

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_effects_of_the_Ebola_crisis

‘The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has had a large effect on the culture of most of the West African countries. Many West Africans have a distrust in western and modern medicine, and rely mostly on traditional healers and witch doctors, who use herbal remedies, massage, chant, and witchcraft to cure just about any ailment. Africans also have a traditional solidarity of standing by the sick, which is contrary to the safe care of a EVD patient.[1][2][3]

‘Africans also traditionally use folklore and mythical literature, often passed on verbally from one generation to the next to “explain the interrelationships of all things that exist”. However the folklore and songs are not only of traditional or ancient historical origins, but are often about current events that have affected the community. Additionally, folklore and music will often take opposing sides of any story. Thus early in the Ebola epidemic, the song “White Ebola” was released by a diaspora based group and centers on the general distrust of “outsiders” who may be intentionally infecting people. [4][5]…’

….

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ending-ebola-15-depends-locals-foreign-aid-28121449

‘… Some villagers suspect the moon-suited Ebola doctors are bringing the virus to their communities, instead of saving them from it. “We cannot control the outbreak if there is no trust from the population,” said Brice de la Vigne, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders in Belgium. De la Vigne said convincing West Africans to change deeply engrained but risky burial practices or to seek help from Western doctors instead of traditional healers will also be difficult. “We need to spend a lot more time listening to the people and readapting our messages because there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this,” he said.’

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

—

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org  

A qualitative study: potential benefits and challenges of traditional healers in providing aspects of palliative care in rural South Africa

Posted on by

Citation: Campbell LM, Amin NN.  A qualitative study: potential benefits and challenges of traditional healers in providing aspects of palliative care in rural South Africa. Rural and Remote Health 14: 2378. (Online) 2014. Available: http://www.rrh.org.au

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  This article draws on selected palliative care providers’ views and experiences to reflect on the potential benefits and possible challenges of involving traditional healers in palliative care in rural areas of South Africa. There is increasing consensus that palliative care should be offered by a range of professional and non-professional healthcare givers. Including non-professionals such as traditional healers in a palliative care team may strengthen care provisioning as they have intimate knowledge of patients’ local culture and spiritual beliefs.

Methods:  Employing the qualitative method of photo-elicitation, one-on-one discussions about the photographs taken by participants were conducted. The participants – 4 palliative care nurses and 17 home-based care workers – were purposively selected to provide in-depth information about their experiences as palliative caregivers in rural homes.
Results:  Healthcare workers’ experiences revealed that the patients they cared for valued traditional rituals connected to illness, dying, death and bereavement. Participants suggested that traditional healers should be included in palliative care training programs as they could offer appropriate psychological, cultural and spiritual care. A challenge identified by participants was the potential of traditional healers to foster a false sense of longevity in patients facing death.
Discussion:  The importance of recognising the value of traditional practices in palliative care should not be underrated in rural South Africa. Traditional healers could enhance palliative care services as they have deep, insider knowledge of patients’ spiritual needs and awareness of cultural practices relating to illness, death, dying and bereavement. Incorporating traditional healers into healthcare services where there are differences in the worldviews of healthcare providers and patients, and a sensitivity to mediate cultural differences between caregivers and patients, could have the benefit of providing appropriate care in rural spaces.
Conclusions:  Considering the influences of cultural and spiritual beliefs on the wellbeing of patients living in rural areas, the inclusion of traditional healers in a palliative care team is a sensible move. It is, nevertheless, important to note that unanticipated challenges may arise with respect to power differentials within the palliative care team and to beliefs that contradict medical prognosis.