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A traditional healers’ training model in rural Nepal: strengthening their roles in community health
Author(s) -
Poudyal Amod K.,
Jimba Masamine,
Murakami Izumi,
Silwal Ram C.,
Wakai Susumu,
Kuratsuji Tadatoshi
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3156.2003.01094.x
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , community health workers , government (linguistics) , alternative medicine , community health , rural health , traditional medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , health care , nursing , rural area , public health , environmental health , population , health services , political science , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , law
Summary In this paper, we evaluated a western medical training model for traditional healers (THs) in rural Nepal. We used semi‐structured interviews to compare 48 trainees with 30 randomly selected untrained THs, 1 year after the training was completed. We asked them about their knowledge of the causes, prevention and treatment of common illnesses and HIV/AIDS, and their relationship with government health workers (GHWs) in the area. Nine GHWs were also interviewed about their perceptions of THs. We found that trained THs had a better knowledge of allopathic medicine, practised modern treatment using first aid kits, and were more likely to refer patients to GHWs. They also improved their relationships with the GHWs. Up‐scaling this model is a challenge for improving community health care in Nepal in the future.