Communication Between Traditional Medical Practitioners and Western Medical Professionals.

Fanuel Lampiao,Carol Clements,Joseph Chisaka

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2019.00037

Fanuel Lampiao, Carol Clements + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00037

Copy DOI

Abstract

The high burden of disease in Malawi is exacerbated by a lack of healthcare professionals, and the inaccessibility of healthcare services to many Malawians, due to geographical and financial barriers. The World Health Organization commends the contribution that traditional and complementary medicine could make to achieve such coverage through its integration into health systems. This study aimed to evaluate the barriers that exist between traditional healers and biomedical practitioners for them to collaborate with each other. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with traditional healers and biomedical practitioners. Results showed that the two groups were willing to collaborate with each other, but to differing degrees. Traditional healers were more enthusiastic than biomedical practitioners, who had several reservations about traditional healers, and placed certain conditions on prospective collaboration. While traditional healers clearly had confidence in biomedical practitioners' competencies and respect for their practice, biomedical practitioners lacked trust in traditional healers and would not refer patients to them due to several reservations, such as the lack of scientific basis for traditional medicine. This study points out barriers that affects collaboration between traditional healers and biomedical practitioners and it suggests possible solutions.

Highlights

Integration of traditional and complementary medicine into healthcare systems is an increasingly popular concept, in Africa, but across the globe (Bodeker and Kronenberg, 2002)
This study aimed to investigate the willingness of traditional healers and biomedical practitioners in the Blantyre and Mulanje districts, Malawi, to collaborate with each other, and to estimate the current and future levels of collaboration, using the Structuration Model of Collaboration” (SMoC)
This study sought to investigate the willingness of traditional healers (THs) and biomedical practitioners (BPs) in Blantyre and Mulanje Districts, Malawi, to collaborate with each other, and to estimate the current and future levels of collaboration

Summary

Introduction

Integration of traditional and complementary medicine into healthcare systems is an increasingly popular concept, in Africa, but across the globe (Bodeker and Kronenberg, 2002). In many low- and middle-income countries such as Malawi, resource-poor healthcare services struggle to manage the significant disease burden that exists (Msyamboza et al, 2011). Such countries are increasingly facing a recognized double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (World Health Organization, 2015). The pre-existing absolute poverty, along with its associated risk factors, continues to contribute to this burden of morbidity and mortality. Traditional medicine (TM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as:. “the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness” (World Health Organization, 2013).

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion