Abstract
A total of 292 traditional healers were interviewed in five districts of Uganda to discover how diarrhoeal diseases were treated by them. At least two healers were present in every village visited, and over 42% of their case-load was concerned with diarrhoeal treatment. The investigation showed that a great variety of herbs/plants are used by traditional healers in the treatment of diarrhoeal diseases. All those interviewed used water as the main vehicle for their herbal preparations, the amount prescribed daily ranging from 20 ml to over 100 ml for children (in the case of 54.5% of healers) and 100 ml to over 500 ml for adults (56.6%); 26.4% of healers considered fluid supplements as mandatory and 70.5% advised patients to take as much fluid as possible. Only 3.1% of healers either limited or did not advise fluid intake. These findings indicate that traditional healers could play an important role in interventions to control diarrhoeal diseases using modern oral rehydration therapy if they are assisted to improve their techniques.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Anokbonggo W. W. Preliminary pharmacological experimental approach to some Ugandan traditional medicines. Planta Med. 1972 Jun;21(4):364–373. doi: 10.1055/s-0028-1099566. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- BENNETT F. J., SERWADDA D., JELLIFFE D. B. KIGANDA CONCEPTS OF DIARRHOEAL DISEASE. East Afr Med J. 1964 May;41:211–218. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- MUSOKE L. K. An analysis of admissions to the Paediatric Division, Mulago Hospital in 1959. Arch Dis Child. 1961 Jun;36:305–315. doi: 10.1136/adc.36.187.305. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Masters K. W. The influence of custom and tradition on maternity care in Ankole District. A report to the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health, Uganda. East Afr Med J. 1970 Nov;47(11):550–556. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]