GUINEA-BISSAU: Traditional healing to get its place in the sun

Bafata, 31 March 2006 (PlusNews) - Guinean traditional healers have been sidelined by health officials and received little support for researching their remedies, but this is set to change.

Earlier this month, Paulo Mendes, coordinator of the National Secretariat to Fight HIV/AIDS (SNLS), revealed at the first-ever meeting between traditional herbalists and AIDS authorities, in Bafatá in the eastern region of the country, that SNLS was looking to finance traditional medicine research projects.

Traditional healers had been waiting for their profession to be recognised and included in the national response to HIV/AIDS since the association of traditional doctors was formed in 1995, said renowned herbal practitioner Aquilino da Costa.

The association, of which he is president, has more than 1,000 members in all eight regions of the country.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 80 percent of Africans regularly consult traditional healers. Although there are no statistics for Guinea-Bissau, the majority of the population turn to traditional medicine, or alternate between this and modern medicine.

Da Costa told PlusNews there were two types of traditional doctors: healers who worked with herbs and medicinal plants, and the 'djambacoses' who evoked the spirits of their ancestors.

"They receive their powers from God and this knowledge is transmitted by our ancestors from generation to generation," he explained.

After 25 years as a practitioner, da Costa's private clinic in the Bissau suburb of Brá attracts long queues of people. Asked whether he believed that traditional healers could cure AIDS, he answered, "AIDS is an illness for which there is no cure, but there is treatment."

Traditional healers could no longer be ignored in the fight against AIDS, he stressed, as the traditional doctor was the entry point to the health care system. They enjoyed credibility and prestige in the community, would be able to influence behaviour, practices and beliefs, and also counter stigma and discrimination.

With both parties acknowledging the need for traditional healers to be educated about how the HI virus is transmitted, SNLS intends to organise HIV/AIDS training courses for them in all regions of the country.

"This meeting marks a turning point in the relations between the modern and the traditional medicine in Guinea-Bissau, for the good of everybody," said Mendes.

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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]