Workshop for traditional healers

The PEPFAR-funded; Biomedical and Traditional Healing Collaboration on HIV/AIDS project held its inaugural workshop at the UKZN Medical School.

The workshops are designed to empower registered traditional healers in eThekwini to participate in the public fight against HIV/AIDS from an organised and informed position, working closely with the Medical School and the Department of Health. Participating traditional healers have to be registered with the eThekwini Section of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Healers Council.

The aim, says Dr James Hartzell adjunct lecturer in the African Health Care System at the Medical School, ?“is to build a long-term pragmatic collaboration between the traditional healers, the Medical School and the District Health System to provide better care and treatment for patients infected with HIV or at risk of HIV infection?”.

The comprehensive training course covers the following:

• Enhanced HIV/AIDS awareness-particularly on viral activity, transmission and prevention methods.
• Clinical Guidelines for the management of HIV-infected and AIDS patients, using the Family Medicine approach.
• Record keeping systems for patient records, referral notes, and PEPFAR-reporting re-quirements.
• Home based Care kit supply and usage.
• Voluntary Counseling and Testing support.


Partners in the project include the US Government?’s President?’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Centers for Disease Control (CDC, part of the USA Department of Health and Human Services), eThekwini Section of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Healers Council, eThekwini City Health Department, eThekwini District of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health and the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine.