'Rooting for uncivilized' medicines

[Guest guest]

HIV/AIDS a boon to `muthi' brewmasters

HERBAL HEALING | Pandemic brings increased demand for

250,000 traditional practitioners, writes Kristin

Nelson

 

 

Jul. 2, 2006

 

KRISTIN NELSON

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

 

The abandoned highway overpass is chock-a-block with

hundreds of traditional healers showing their wares —

bushy green weeds, gnarled roots, snake skins, pouches

of various white powders, animal skulls and jars of

dark green liquid.

 

This is the renowned muthi (herbal medicine) bridge, a

concrete span suspended over the train tracks and

mini-bus taxis in Durban's chaotic Warwick Junction

transportation hub.

 

It caters to the estimated 500,000 commuters that pass

daily through the junction, most of them on their way

to or from the city's surrounding townships.

 

It is also the largest muthi market in southern Africa

and its commerce supports about 14,000 of the city's

inyangas (traditional herbalists).

 

One of them is Alice Mbhele, a stocky, middle-aged

woman wrapped in layers of dark clothing whose

guttural voice sounds as though it belongs to someone

else. She began practising traditional healing 19

years ago, she says in Zulu.

 

" At that time, I had problems at home and in my

marriage. There was no food on the table and my

husband was not working. That's when I decided to sell

these muthis of mine. "

 

Mbhele sends almost all the money she earns back to

her village, where it supports her five children and

three grandchildren.

 

In a country where unemployment hovers around 40 per

cent, traditional healing is an essential livelihood

strategy, especially for women.

 

Mbhele says most of her clients are infected with HIV,

the virus that causes AIDS, and she insists her

remedies can help them.

 

" One night when I was asleep, " she says, " my

grandmother came to me in a dream and told me how to

treat people with HIV. The problem is I can only calm

it down. I can't cure it completely. "

 

People living with HIV/AIDS are a growing market,

especially here in South Africa's most-affected

region. One of every three women attending post-natal

clinics in KwaZulu-Natal province is infected with

HIV, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world.

 

 

Although a health disaster, the HIV/AIDS pandemic

presents economic opportunity in South Africa. The

country is home to an estimated 250,000 traditional

healers, and their ranks are growing.

 

Pamphleteers advertising the services of healers able

to cure anything from tuberculosis to a bad-hair day

are common on the streets of central Durban and

Johannesburg.

 

Some of the healers, tucked away in dilapidated office

buildings, sell their AIDS " cures " to desperate

clients at steep prices.

 

Their activities were part of what prompted the

government to enact the Traditional Health

Practitioners Act, a 2004 law that regulates healers

and attempts to integrate them into the formal

health-care system.

 

Eventually, the law will see healers paying taxes,

writing valid sick notes and submitting insurance

claims.

 

However, its primary objective is to separate the

quacks from the bona fide inyangas.

 

" It is important to protect our people because there

are charlatans out there, " says Deputy Health Minister

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge. " At the same time, we

recognize that there are people who are genuine, who

have gone through the training. "

 

All traditional health practitioners in the country

will soon be required to register with a newly

established national governing body. They will have to

pay a fee, demonstrate their credentials and prove

their citizenship (even though many South Africans

lack birth certificates).

 

Critics worry the process may criminalize illiterate

healers, as well as those unfamiliar with navigating

bureaucracy.

 

" I'm quite aware that there is a difficulty for many

of them, " says Madlala-Routledge. " But the fact is

that, once there is a law, anybody who acts outside of

that law is committing a crime. That is a reality. "

 

In the past, colonialists and missionaries regarded

the healers as witches. When their practices were

banned during apartheid, they went underground.

 

Today, according to government figures, about 70 per

cent of South Africans consult traditional healers.

The practitioners are often prominent figures in their

communities and function as primary health-care

providers in under-served areas.

 

Traditional healers are not perceived as the poor

cousins of conventional physicians. Many South

Africans make a conscious decision to spend money for

traditional treatments, even when they have access to

" modern " medicine.

 

The World Health Organization reports a substantial

majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa

first use traditional medicines but seek out doctors

if the ailment endures.

 

The line between tradition and modernity is

increasingly difficult to distinguish as South

Africa's healers rapidly professionalize and their

lobby groups become increasingly politicized and

media-savvy in lobbying for their interests.

 

The national co-ordinator of one of the largest

professional associations — the Traditional Healers

Organization — decries international agencies'

" obsession " with making antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)

available to Africans.

 

" People should not be bombarded with only one form of

treatment as though it's the only treatment that we

have available, " argues Pepsile Maseko from her office

in Hillbrow, a Johannesburg neighbourhood better known

for car-jacking than traditional healing.

 

" We fought for democracy in this country — now let us

enjoy those fruits of democracy, let us have the right

to choose. "

 

Although the law actually forbids healers from

treating people with either HIV/AIDS or cancer, a few

high-profile South Africans have made headlines by

deciding to spurn ARVs for solely traditional

remedies.

 

" That is a very good choice; there is nothing wrong

with that, " says Maseko.

 

" Some people are happy with their `uncivilized'

medicines. "

 

Researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal are in

the midst of clinical trials to assess some

traditional remedies.

 

" We are doing all we can to clinically and

scientifically validate some of these herbs, " Dr.

Nceba Gqaleni, dean of the university's medical

school. " I think there might be hope. "

 

Gqaleni says traditional healers and their muthis

might fill in a " treatment gap " left by Western

medicine.

 

Although access to ARVs is slowly becoming a reality

for HIV-infected South Africans, they are only

prescribed when a patient's immune system has fallen

below a certain point.

 

Doctors have little to offer in between HIV diagnosis

and the prescription of ARVs.

 

The university is also involved in a program to train

healers in HIV prevention, counselling and care. More

than 300 healers have taken part thus far, learning

about disease pathology, hygiene and record-keeping.

 

But the learning is not all one-way, says Gqaleni.

 

" There is something to learn from healers, " he says.

" They offer hope, trust and empathy — things that lack

in our profession. "

 

Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited

[Guest guest]

Thank you Dar. This is a very interesting articleas it deals with

some of the basic issues we deal with in our fight against the denial

of choice in medicine.

 

Could you give us the link to the article?

 

Regards,

Jag.

 

, dar

<dobbie606 wrote:

>

> HIV/AIDS a boon to `muthi' brewmasters

> HERBAL HEALING | Pandemic brings increased demand for

> 250,000 traditional practitioners, writes Kristin

> Nelson

>

>

> Jul. 2, 2006

>

> KRISTIN NELSON

> SPECIAL TO THE STAR

>

> The abandoned highway overpass is chock-a-block with

> hundreds of traditional healers showing their wares †"

> bushy green weeds, gnarled roots, snake skins, pouches

> of various white powders, animal skulls and jars of

> dark green liquid.

>

> This is the renowned muthi (herbal medicine) bridge, a

> concrete span suspended over the train tracks and

> mini-bus taxis in Durban's chaotic Warwick Junction

> transportation hub.

>

> It caters to the estimated 500,000 commuters that pass

> daily through the junction, most of them on their way

> to or from the city's surrounding townships.

>

> It is also the largest muthi market in southern Africa

> and its commerce supports about 14,000 of the city's

> inyangas (traditional herbalists).

>

> One of them is Alice Mbhele, a stocky, middle-aged

> woman wrapped in layers of dark clothing whose

> guttural voice sounds as though it belongs to someone

> else. She began practising traditional healing 19

> years ago, she says in Zulu.

>

> " At that time, I had problems at home and in my

> marriage. There was no food on the table and my

> husband was not working. That's when I decided to sell

> these muthis of mine. "

>

> Mbhele sends almost all the money she earns back to

> her village, where it supports her five children and

> three grandchildren.

>

> In a country where unemployment hovers around 40 per

> cent, traditional healing is an essential livelihood

> strategy, especially for women.

>

> Mbhele says most of her clients are infected with HIV,

> the virus that causes AIDS, and she insists her

> remedies can help them.

>

> " One night when I was asleep, " she says, " my

> grandmother came to me in a dream and told me how to

> treat people with HIV. The problem is I can only calm

> it down. I can't cure it completely. "

>

> People living with HIV/AIDS are a growing market,

> especially here in South Africa's most-affected

> region. One of every three women attending post-natal

> clinics in KwaZulu-Natal province is infected with

> HIV, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world.

>

>

> Although a health disaster, the HIV/AIDS pandemic

> presents economic opportunity in South Africa. The

> country is home to an estimated 250,000 traditional

> healers, and their ranks are growing.

>

> Pamphleteers advertising the services of healers able

> to cure anything from tuberculosis to a bad-hair day

> are common on the streets of central Durban and

> Johannesburg.

>

> Some of the healers, tucked away in dilapidated office

> buildings, sell their AIDS " cures " to desperate

> clients at steep prices.

>

> Their activities were part of what prompted the

> government to enact the Traditional Health

> Practitioners Act, a 2004 law that regulates healers

> and attempts to integrate them into the formal

> health-care system.

>

> Eventually, the law will see healers paying taxes,

> writing valid sick notes and submitting insurance

> claims.

>

> However, its primary objective is to separate the

> quacks from the bona fide inyangas.

>

> " It is important to protect our people because there

> are charlatans out there, " says Deputy Health Minister

> Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge. " At the same time, we

> recognize that there are people who are genuine, who

> have gone through the training. "

>

> All traditional health practitioners in the country

> will soon be required to register with a newly

> established national governing body. They will have to

> pay a fee, demonstrate their credentials and prove

> their citizenship (even though many South Africans

> lack birth certificates).

>

> Critics worry the process may criminalize illiterate

> healers, as well as those unfamiliar with navigating

> bureaucracy.

>

> " I'm quite aware that there is a difficulty for many

> of them, " says Madlala-Routledge. " But the fact is

> that, once there is a law, anybody who acts outside of

> that law is committing a crime. That is a reality. "

>

> In the past, colonialists and missionaries regarded

> the healers as witches. When their practices were

> banned during apartheid, they went underground.

>

> Today, according to government figures, about 70 per

> cent of South Africans consult traditional healers.

> The practitioners are often prominent figures in their

> communities and function as primary health-care

> providers in under-served areas.

>

> Traditional healers are not perceived as the poor

> cousins of conventional physicians. Many South

> Africans make a conscious decision to spend money for

> traditional treatments, even when they have access to

> " modern " medicine.

>

> The World Health Organization reports a substantial

> majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa

> first use traditional medicines but seek out doctors

> if the ailment endures.

>

> The line between tradition and modernity is

> increasingly difficult to distinguish as South

> Africa's healers rapidly professionalize and their

> lobby groups become increasingly politicized and

> media-savvy in lobbying for their interests.

>

> The national co-ordinator of one of the largest

> professional associations †" the Traditional Healers

> Organization †" decries international agencies'

> " obsession " with making antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)

> available to Africans.

>

> " People should not be bombarded with only one form of

> treatment as though it's the only treatment that we

> have available, " argues Pepsile Maseko from her office

> in Hillbrow, a Johannesburg neighbourhood better known

> for car-jacking than traditional healing.

>

> " We fought for democracy in this country †" now let us

> enjoy those fruits of democracy, let us have the right

> to choose. "

>

> Although the law actually forbids healers from

> treating people with either HIV/AIDS or cancer, a few

> high-profile South Africans have made headlines by

> deciding to spurn ARVs for solely traditional

> remedies.

>

> " That is a very good choice; there is nothing wrong

> with that, " says Maseko.

>

> " Some people are happy with their `uncivilized'

> medicines. "

>

> Researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal are in

> the midst of clinical trials to assess some

> traditional remedies.

>

> " We are doing all we can to clinically and

> scientifically validate some of these herbs, " Dr.

> Nceba Gqaleni, dean of the university's medical

> school. " I think there might be hope. "

>

> Gqaleni says traditional healers and their muthis

> might fill in a " treatment gap " left by Western

> medicine.

>

> Although access to ARVs is slowly becoming a reality

> for HIV-infected South Africans, they are only

> prescribed when a patient's immune system has fallen

> below a certain point.

>

> Doctors have little to offer in between HIV diagnosis

> and the prescription of ARVs.

>

> The university is also involved in a program to train

> healers in HIV prevention, counselling and care. More

> than 300 healers have taken part thus far, learning

> about disease pathology, hygiene and record-keeping.

>

> But the learning is not all one-way, says Gqaleni.

>

> " There is something to learn from healers, " he says.

> " They offer hope, trust and empathy †" things that lack

> in our profession. "

>

> Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited

>