6/10 Paper Proposal Vanessa

I’m interested in researching the impact of traditional healers on HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment (in rural Tanzania, provided sufficient information - EDIT: based on the sources I've been looking at, I think I will have to broaden the focus to include more countries, as there isn't very much information on just Tanzania). While volunteering in Tanzania, I met a woman living with HIV, whose husband had recently died because he went off his ARVs at the advice of a traditional healer; her husband quickly became sick, and although he decided to go back on ARVs, his virus had already become resistant, so the treatment was ineffectual. The push for Tanzanians to go to traditional healers for HIV/AIDS treatment seems to stem from cultural/religious/spiritual beliefs, inaccurate HIV/AIDS knowledge and/or the total absence of such information, and a poor health care system. Thus the primary purpose of this paper is to explore how these three factors contribute to Tanzanians seeking traditional healers for HIV treatment, and also how traditional healers influence the HIV/AIDS knowledge that these villagers have or gain over time. Questions I will want to consider: To what degree do traditional healers actually limit the success of HIV prevention and treatment? What is an appropriate level of knowledge to teach about HIV/AIDS, given the main goal is to increase prevention and encourage those who already have HIV to seek and maintain treatment (i.e. is it enough to teach people the very basics and how to protect themselves, or should a deeper level of scientific knowledge be taught, even if this information might conflict with religious and cultural beliefs)? I still have to do more research to get a clearer idea for an outline, but ultimately, the paper should hopefully include ways to either somehow incorporate traditional healers into an effective education/prevention/treatment plan, or else it should include ways that we can improve the contributing factors to lessen the need for Tanzanians to go to traditional healers for HIV/AIDS treatment.

Possible sources:

Becker, Felicitas, and Wenzel Geissler. Aids and Religious Practice In Africa. Leiden: Brill, 2009

Chepkwony, Adam K. A. Religion and Health In Africa : Reflections for Theology In the 21st Century. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2006.

Gbodossou, Erick Vidjin' Agnih. Healers' Self-proficiency Training : for a Better Involvement of Traditional Healers In the Fight Against Stds-hiv/aids and for the Survival of the Mother and the Child : Fapeg Method. [Senegal?]: Edition METRAF, 2000.

Kale, Rajendra. "Traditional healers in South Africa: a parallel health care system." BMJ 310 (1995): 1182-185. PubMed. NIH. Web. 7 Oct. 2009. .

King, Rachel. Ancient Remedies, New Disease: Involving Traditional Healers In Increasing Access to Aids Care and Prevention In East Africa. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2002.

Moerschbacher, Marco, Joseph Bitole Kato, and Pius Rutechura. A Holistic Approach to Hiv and Aids In Africa. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2008.

Wambebe, Charles. Use of Traditional African Medicines (tam) In the Management of Hiv/aids : Lecture Delivered At the 2nd Professor James Ogonor Memorial Lecture. Benin City, Nigeria: Women's Health and Action Research Centre, 2005.