Attitudes of HIV positive patients in South Africa to traditional healers and their practices

Background
South Africa has one of the largest HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world and thus the country’s health systems are required to implement strong measures to ensure the care of the HIV infected population. Adherence to Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is of central importance to delay the progression of the HI Virus to full blown AIDS. Thus the use of African traditional medicine amongst HIV positive patients can be problematic. Traditional medicines can interact adversely with ARV treatment and there may be a perception amongst patients that a cure for HIV can be found here within.   

 

This study explores the use of African traditional healers by people using

ART in South Africa. It focuses on the insights and opinions of two different populations: HIV positive patients attending ARV services and lay healthcare workers (patient advocates and ART counsellors) providing counselling services parallel to ART treatment

 Methods

A semi-structured questionnaire was used to explore the attitudes of patients to

African traditional healers and their practices. This was complemented by in

depth interviews with patients who reported use of traditional healing systems in

the past year.

 

The study also included two focus group discussions with lay health workers

(i.e. ART counsellors and patient advocates) at two ART sites.
Results

The responses show that the majority of respondents had never

accessed a traditional healing service. Only two patients were found to be

actively crossing between ART treatment facilities and traditional healing

services at the time of their interview. The focus group discussions showed

that lay health workers support an ARV roll out process that effectively

underplays the role of traditional healers and therefore actively discourage their

patients from using traditional healing services while taking ART treatment.

 Conclusions
Health systems recommendations are provided to ensure that traditional healing strategies are discussed in ART services.