Prospects for collaborating with traditional healers in Africa

This literature review describes current collaborative activities and assesses the potential for future efforts. Thus far, in some regions, educational programs have successfully promoted healers" use of oral rehydration therapy, diminished the instance of dangerous traditional treatments, improved hygienic practices, and promoted the use of vaccines. In many African countries traditional health worker training has resulted in modern fever and malnutrition treatments and increased referrals to biomedical facilities. In addition, workshops have improved relationships between healers and biomedical personnel and have heightened biomedical workers" appreciation for indigenous cultural practices. Constraints to traditional healer-biomedical personnel collaboration involve the selection of healers (not all treat the same illnesses and not all are receptive to collaboration); difficulty in reaching a consensus on collaboration objectives; and the inappropriate adaption of learned practices by traditional healers (training follow-up is required to prevent distortion of newly learned medical procedures). Includes a 10-page bibliography and an annex describing traditional care of childhood diarrhea in Africa.