MAMA BUJJU

Wt traditional healers of Africa have been using ritual in combination with herbal remedies to treat Africa's people for generations. A number of these medicines seem to be effective where modern science has failed to find a cure. Yet for some reason, modern science is regarded as infallible, as an absolute truth. It is because of this faith in modern medicine that the traditional healers in Africa are now regarded as primitive witch doctors. There have been efforts to discourage people from seeing the traditional healers and encourage them to go to the medical doctors in an attempt to attack the AIDS crisis.TRADITIONAL HEALING AND HIV/AIDS TREATMENT;I MAMA BUJJU I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TREAT PEOPLE WHO ARE INFECTED WITH HIV/AIDS VIRUS USING TRADITIONAL HERBS FOR YEARS AND RESULTS HAVE BEEN VISIBLE

Although they may not be able to prescribe the latest "scientifically proven" drugs, the benefits of involving the traditional healers in the war against AIDS can not be ignored. There are approximately 45,000 traditional healers in South Africa alone, whereas the country has only 1,400 medical doctors. Thus the traditional healers are able to reach far more people than the medical doctors are able to. It is estimated that as many as 90% of the South African people utilize the services of the traditional healers. Because the traditional healers are already a trusted source of health information and treatment, it makes far more sense to work with these people rather than against them. There has been a tremendous amount of organization on the part of the traditional healers. As early as 1985, there were healers associations in 23 African countries. By 1990, the African traditional healers association had over 220,000 members.

The first step in bringing AIDS education to the people is the education of the healers. As in all countries, Africa has a number of myths about AIDS and the spread of disease. Often, the practices of the healers may actually spread rather than prevent the disease. Most healers are not trained in sterilization techniques. The effects of this can be deadly when many of the healers use tools such as razor blades to introduce traditional medicines to the bloodstream. Along with methods of sterilization, special workshops teach healers the benefits of using one razor per client (even if this means that the client brings his own razor).

Incorporating traditional ideas and practices into AIDS education has been highly effective. It would be almost impossible to completely overturn a set of ideas that has been accepted as the truth for generations. For example, the ideas of pollution and contamination are prevalent in relation to a number of diseases. It is thought that the diseases are transmitted through contact with urine and feces. Rather than proclaiming that this idea is false in regards to AIDS, health educators and traditional healers work with this idea by teaching people to avoid human wastes in general, including blood.