Collaborating with traditional healers for HIV: Suggestions for programme managers and fieldworkers
African traditional medicine is often the primary, and frequently the only, accessible health-care option for many people living in sub-Saharan Africa. Early attempts to combine the best of the traditional and the modern systems included a variety of projects that looked at the usefulness of traditional herbal remedies for the treatment of HIV-related illnesses. Studies looking at traditional healers perceptions of sexually transmitted infections and HIV infection were also conducted. With this information, collaborative projects began, training traditional healers as educators and counsellors to disseminate information on HIV and sexually transmitted infections in their communities and to their peers.
As part of the best practice collection, UNAIDS has published practical guidelines to help health authorities develop productive relationships between traditional healers and modern biomedical professionals and strengthen the response to AIDS. (UNAIDS 2007)