Traditional Healers

Traditional Healers: Stuck in the Past, or Part of the Future?


Traditional healers have been practicing alongside biomedicine for such a long time (Freedman&Motsei 1992; Hellenberg 2004; Hopa, Simbayi & du Toit 1998) , that it almost comes as a shock that they have yet to be included in the national health care system (Hopa&Symbayi). Medical doctors tend to view traditional healers and traditional medicine with barely concealed contempt (Hellenberg). Putting it down to savage trickery mainly concerned with duping the uneducated into parting with their hard-earned cash for the medical equivalent of pixie dust (Freeman&Motsei; Hellenberg; Hopa,Simbayi & du Toit). This is due in part to the negative media coverage that traditional medicine tends to generate, mixed with a fair amount of bias reserved for all alternative medicine (Hellenberg).

Despite this suspicion on the part of biomedicine, there are still thousands of South Africans who make use of traditional healers in some form of another (Freeman&Motsei; Hellenberg; Hopa, Simbayi & du Toit). Estimates vary, but they go as high as 80% (Hopa,Simbayi&duToit). This means that a significant amount of people living in south Africa today use traditional healers either as an alternative to western medicine, or as a complementary aid ( Freedman& Motsei; Hellenberg; Hopa,Simbayi & du Toit). Conventional wisdom would have us believe that these traditional healers operate mainly in rural areas where the residents have either no alternative, or simply “don’t know any better” (Hopa,Simbayi & du Toit). However, for 80% of the population to make use of traditional healers in some degree this simply cannot be the case.

The reasons why people make use of traditional healers are numerous (Freedman& Motsei). Yet there is a common thread that runs through those sited that has more to do with how traditional healers operate than where they are (Hellenberg). Traditional healers tend to take a holistic approach to healing, looking not only at the symptoms of the illness, but trying to explain the cause as well (Freeman&Motsei; Feierman&Jansen 1992). They view illness in a social context and will often explain the illness in terms of the individuals’ family or group (Freeman& Motsei; Feierman&Jansen; Hellenberg). This view when combined with the complete faith that customers often place in their traditional healer makes traditional healers especially effective when treating psychosomatic illness (Freeman&Motsei; Hellenberg). They have also shown remarkable skill when it comes to treating psychological problems (Hellenberg; Hopa,Simbayi & du Toit).

The place for traditional healers in the South African health care system cannot be ignored, but deciding that they need to be included on its own is not enough (Hellenberg; Hopa,Simbayi & du Toit). There are genuine concerns that have been raised about some treatments offered by traditional healers (Freeman&Motsei, Hellenberg). These include: sucking on wounds, herbal enemas for dehydration, poor success rate when handling visual problems and the use of toxic herbs (Hellenberg). These risks exist, but I would rather argue that intensive training and regulations would be more beneficial to the public, than simply excluding them all together (Freeman&Motsei; Hellenberg). At the moment, there is no standard procedure to either training or registering traditional healers, paving the way for charlatans with false claims. Regulating traditional healers would not only protect the public, but also those traditional healers who are in fact rendering a valuable service (Freeman&Motsei; Hellenberg; Hopa, Simbayi & du Toit).

Some standardised form of training for traditional healers would minimize potentially negative treatments and also better equip traditional healers to serve their customers (Freeman& Motsei; Hellenberg). It should also lend legitimacy to traditional healers in the eyes of western medicine, which would have a positive impact on their professional relationship (Hellenberg). Traditional healers clearly have a role to play, and anything that can be done to facilitate their successful inclusion in the health care system would benefit all concerned.





References:
• Freeman, M. & Motsei,M. 1992 ‘Planning Health Care in South Africa – Is there a role for traditional healers?’ in Soc. Sci. Med. 34 (11)
• Feierman, S. & Jansen, J. 1992 ‘Introduction’ in Feierman, S & Jansen, J (eds.) The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa. Berkeley: University California Press.
• Hellenberg, D. (ed) 2004 ‘Bridging the Gap – African Traditional Healing’ by Cameron, N., Coetzee,E., Keikelame,J., Pillay,M., Ramdass, R., Rangaka,T., Stulting, A., Tereblance, J., Vivian, L., South African Medical Association.
• Hopa,M., Simbayi, L.C., & du Toit, C.D. 1998 ‘Perceptions on Integration of Traditional and Western Healing in the New South Africa’ in South African Journal of Psychology. 28 (1)