Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
 |
New Vision - December 21, 2004
Alfred Wasike
Kolker travelled to remote Kawuku village, Nakifuma, Mukono, 60km east of Kampala on December 5, where he visited a traditional healer, Henry Kasule. He sat on a mat spread out on freshly cut elephant grass, together with the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) director Uganda, Dr Jonathan Mermin and Dr Alex Opio, an assistant commissioner in the Ministry of Health.
Kasule, 38, was dressed in a bark cloth knotted on the left shoulder and was consulting about 20 dark-brown and cream-coloured cowry shells on a piece of bark cloth.
Kasule is not an ordinary traditional healer. He lives with HIV and has lost a wife and two children to AIDS.
With the fight against AIDS at heart, he founded an organisation called Nakifuma Traditional Healers Association. The healers received training from the Traditional and Modern Health Practitioners Together against AIDS and other diseases (THETA), a local NGO initiated in 1992.
"I am happy that after training with THETA I am able to help my people avert AIDS or learn to live positively with it," he said. This training has enabled him integrate traditional healing, which he inherited from his ancestors, into the fight against AIDS. He treats AIDS-related ailments, counsels people about HIV and encourages them to go for HIV testing. Together with other healers, he also campaigns for abstinence, being faithful or using condoms. Behind him were boxes of condoms that he distributes. He also had a rack of containers in which he keeps herbs for his patients.
Like Kasule, 1,700 other traditional healers have received THETA training. THETA director Dr Dorothy Balaba. said three million beneficiaries had accessed improved services from the trained traditional healers. The training includes AIDS care, counselling, infection control and hygiene.
"For example in Hoima the number of hygienic shrines has risen from 6% in 1997 to 45% in 2000. The presence of latrines in Mbarara (28 traditional healers) rose from 11% in 2002 to 42% in 2004," she said.
THETA was founded in 1992 through a partnership between TASO and Medecens Sans Frontiers.
The organisation now operates in Kampala, Bushenyi Mbarara, Luweero, Kiboga, Arua, Apac, Kumi, Hoima, Kamuli, Katakwi and Mukono. The healers have formed 19 self-sustaining traditional healers associations and client support groups.
Balaba, said people widely use the services of traditional healers because of dissatisfaction with the modern health care services, cultural beliefs and attitudes. Healers are widely respected in communities, keep information confidential and are good at counselling, she said. However, she complained about the lack of a national policy regulating the traditional medicine sector in Uganda.
Healers under THETA have links with health centres so that where they fail, they refer their patients to modern doctors. THETA helps them in evaluating their herbs and protecting their intellectual property as well as standardisation, processing and packaging of their medicines.
Kolker hailed THETA for organising the traditional healers into a network. He also hailed the traditional healers for using their role in the communities to impart anti-AIDS information to their patients or clients.
"We need to get every good idea so that we can save lives. Sometimes the people in the USA don't see the value of traditional healers' knowledge in the struggle against AIDS. This knowledge should be used to help patients in Uganda and beyond," Kolker said.
"Uganda has made significant steps in the fight against AIDS. The purpose of our visit here is to see how the people in Uganda are using traditional medicine to fight AIDS."
041221
NV041269
Copyright © 2004 - The New Vision. All articles are republished on AEGIS by permission. Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published or used for broadcast without written authorization from Managing Director/Editor-in-chief, The New Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala - Uganda, Tel/fax: 256-41-235221, E-mail: wpike@newvision.co.ug.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .