ArticlePloS one2017
Mixed methods inquiry into traditional healers' treatment of mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders in rural South Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring multilevel barriers and facilitators to antiretroviral therapy adherence among adults living with HIV in ART clinic in Mogadishu, Somalia: a qualitative study guided by the socio-ecological model.AIDS research and therapy · 2025Article
- Use of traditional medicine for hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia measured in 71 surveys.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
- Can Traditional Health Practitioners Deliver HIV Counseling and Testing Services? A Pilot Study in Rural South Africa.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2025Article
- Traditional Health Practitioners-Initiated HIV Testing and Counselling: Perspectives from Health Care Workers, Healers and Clients in Rural South Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2025Article
- Substance abuse treatment in Nigeria: applying a biopsychosocial-spiritual framework at MACCARCA.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Managing collaboration between Traditional and Western health practitioners in mental health care, Limpopo province, South Africa.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2025Article
- Exploring Managers' Insights on Integrating Mental Health into Tuberculosis and HIV Care in the Free State Province, South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Religious and Medical Pluralism Among Traditional Healers in Johannesburg, South Africa.Journal of religion and health · 2024Article
- Dementia in South Africa: A Situational Analysis.Dementia (London, England) · 2024Article
- A individually randomized controlled trial comparing Healer-led vs. clinician- led training to improve personal protective equipment use among traditional healers in South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Perceptions of causes and treatment of mental illness among traditional health practitioners in Johannesburg, South Africa.South African journal of psychology = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir sielkunde · 2023Article
- Obstacles and facilitators to communicating with children about their parents' mental illness: a qualitative study in a sub-district of Mpumalanga, South Africa.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Throwing the bones to diagnose HIV: Views of rural South African traditional healers on undertaking HIV counselling and testing.AIDS care · 2021Article
- How beliefs in traditional healers impact on the use of allopathic medicine: In the case of indigenous snakebite in Eswatini.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Reassessing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: What Happens if We Include the Impact of Traditional Healing on Mental Illness?Community mental health journal · 2021Article
- Internal migration and health in South Africa: determinants of healthcare utilisation in a young adult cohort.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Healer-led vs. clinician-led training to improve personal protective equipment use among traditional healers in South Africa: a randomized controlled trial protocol.Global health action · 2021Article
- Becoming a Xhosa traditional healer: The calling, illness, conflict and belonging.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2021Article
- An unrecognized key population? Traditional treatment practices associated with HIV risk among traditional healers in rural South Africa.AIDS (London, England) · 2020Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundTraditional healers are acceptable and highly accessible health practitioners throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Patients in South Africa often seek concurrent traditional and allopathic treatment leading to medical pluralism. METHODS &
findingsWe studied the cause of five traditional illnesses known locally as "Mavabyi ya nhloko" (sickness of the head), by conducting 27 in-depth interviews and 133 surveys with a randomly selected sample of traditional healers living and working in rural, northeastern South Africa. These interviews were carried out to identify treatment practices of mental, neurological, and substance abuse (MNS) disorders. Participating healers were primarily female (77%), older in age (median: 58.0 years; interquartile range [IQR]: 50-67), had very little formal education (median: 3.7 years; IQR: 3.2-4.2), and had practiced traditional medicine for many years (median: 17 years; IQR: 9.5-30). Healers reported having the ability to successfully treat: seizure disorders (47%), patients who have lost touch with reality (47%), paralysis on one side of the body (59%), and substance abuse (21%). Female healers reported a lower odds of treating seizure disorders (Odds Ratio (OR):0.47), patients who had lost touch with reality (OR:0.26; p-value<0.05), paralysis of one side of the body (OR:0.36), and substance abuse (OR:0.36) versus males. Each additional year of education received was found to be associated with lower odds, ranging from 0.13-0.27, of treating these symptoms. Each additional patient seen by healers in the past week was associated with roughly 1.10 higher odds of treating seizure disorders, patients who have lost touch with reality, paralysis of one side of the body, and substance abuse. Healers charged a median of 500 South African Rand (~US$35) to treat substance abuse, 1000 Rand (~US$70) for seizure disorders or paralysis of one side of the body, and 1500 Rand (~US$105) for patients who have lost touch with reality.
conclusionsWhile not all healers elect to treat MNS disorders, many continue to do so, delaying allopathic health services to acutely ill patients.
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