Collaboration between traditional health practitioners and conventional health practitioners: some country experiences

ABSTRACT

Since the early 1970s; the WHO has repeatedly advocated for the recognition of Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) as Primary Healthcare (PHC) providers and for the integration of traditional medicine in national health systems. Several calls have been made on governments to take responsibility for the health of their people and to formulate national policies; regulations and standards; as part of comprehensive national health programmes to ensure appropriate; safe and effective use of traditional medicine. One of the priorities of the African Regional Strategy on Promoting the Role of TM in Health Systems is promotion of collaboration between practitioners of traditional and conventional medicine. However; despite the health benefits such collaboration could bring to the populations; decades of disregard of traditional medicine practices and products has created mistrust between the two sectors hampering all the efforts being made to promote this potentially useful partnership. This article outlines the strategies that have been adopted by the WHO to ensure the integration of traditional medicine into national health systems; examples of ongoing collaboration between research institutions and THPs based on research and management of patients; and between THPs and conventional health practitioners in HIV/ AIDS prevention and care and HIV/AIDS/STI/tuberculosis programmes; factors that have contributed to sustaining these partnerships as well as mechanisms for strengthening such collaborations