The Intersection Between Traditional Healing and Modern Medicine Practices in the Care of HIV Positive People Living in Swaziland: A Pilot Study

HIV/AIDS care and prevention activities in sub-Saharan Africa are mainly the result of collaborations between health care providers (physicians, nurses, and mental health professionals) and traditional healers (Bodeker, Carter, Buford, & Dvorak-Little, 2006; Sukati, 1996). Traditional herbal and spiritual practitioners (also known as iSangoma and iNyanga) have shown little inclination to adopt antiretroviral therapies to treat their HIV/AIDS patients (Shuster, Sterk, Frew, & del Rio, 2009). The proposed qualitative pilot study will examine the background of this reluctance, based on experiences of health care providers who are interacting with traditional healers in Swaziland. This pilot study will use qualitative methods to evaluate data collected from focus group discussions. The information will be collected from Swazi care givers attending an HIV/AIDS workshop sponsored by the United States President???s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The data obtained from this pilot study proposes to improve understanding, and communication, between collaborating health care providers and traditional healers with the specific aim of propelling the incorporation of antiretroviral therapies in the treatment regime for HIV/AIDS patients in Swaziland.Nursin