Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care
Snakebite envenoming is an acute medical emergency which affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, primarily in remote rural areas of low-and middle income countries in the Global South. A considerable proportion of snakebite patients turn to traditional healers (THs) for help, driven by a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Toxicon: X |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590171022000509 |
| _version_ | 1811249567615680512 |
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| author | Jonathan Steinhorst Frank-Leonel Tianyi Abdulrazaq Garba Habib George O. Oluoch David G. Lalloo Ymkje Stienstra |
| author_facet | Jonathan Steinhorst Frank-Leonel Tianyi Abdulrazaq Garba Habib George O. Oluoch David G. Lalloo Ymkje Stienstra |
| author_sort | Jonathan Steinhorst |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Snakebite envenoming is an acute medical emergency which affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, primarily in remote rural areas of low-and middle income countries in the Global South. A considerable proportion of snakebite patients turn to traditional healers (THs) for help, driven by a number of push and pull factors. These include socio-cultural factors, geographical proximity, and the absence or inaccessibility of overstretched and often costly allopathic healthcare services. Although traditional healers and allopathic healthcare staff share a common focus -the recovery and well-being of their patients- both systems operate largely in parallel to each other with collaborations being an exception rather than the rule. This is to the detriment of snakebite patients, who frequently find themselves being caught-up in the dualism between the two separate systems. Given the right circumstances, snakebite patients could benefit from elements of care from both modalities. Here, we have reviewed the role of THs in snakebite care and explored how their integration into the formal healthcare system could improve the implementation and outcome of care. The effective recruitment of THs to aid in disease control and treatment efforts in diseases other than snakebite underscores the potential benefits of this strategy. Carefully devised proof of concept studies are needed to test our hypothesis that collaborations between the formal healthcare sector and THs are feasible and improve outcomes in snakebite care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:48:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b0a08630c11c4f97b941cedce825ce36 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-1710 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:48:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Toxicon: X |
| spelling | doaj.art-b0a08630c11c4f97b941cedce825ce362022-12-22T03:26:34ZengElsevierToxicon: X2590-17102022-12-0116100140Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite careJonathan Steinhorst0Frank-Leonel Tianyi1Abdulrazaq Garba Habib2George O. Oluoch3David G. Lalloo4Ymkje Stienstra5University of Groningen, Department of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, the NetherlandsCentre for Snakebite Research and Interventions, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United KingdomInfectious Disease and Tropical Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, College of Health Science, Bayero University Kano, NigeriaKenya Snakebite Research & Intervention Centre, Institute of Primate Research, Karen, Nairobi, KenyaCentre for Snakebite Research and Interventions, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United KingdomUniversity of Groningen, Department of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Corresponding author. CSRI Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place Liverpool L3 5QA, United Kingdom.Snakebite envenoming is an acute medical emergency which affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, primarily in remote rural areas of low-and middle income countries in the Global South. A considerable proportion of snakebite patients turn to traditional healers (THs) for help, driven by a number of push and pull factors. These include socio-cultural factors, geographical proximity, and the absence or inaccessibility of overstretched and often costly allopathic healthcare services. Although traditional healers and allopathic healthcare staff share a common focus -the recovery and well-being of their patients- both systems operate largely in parallel to each other with collaborations being an exception rather than the rule. This is to the detriment of snakebite patients, who frequently find themselves being caught-up in the dualism between the two separate systems. Given the right circumstances, snakebite patients could benefit from elements of care from both modalities. Here, we have reviewed the role of THs in snakebite care and explored how their integration into the formal healthcare system could improve the implementation and outcome of care. The effective recruitment of THs to aid in disease control and treatment efforts in diseases other than snakebite underscores the potential benefits of this strategy. Carefully devised proof of concept studies are needed to test our hypothesis that collaborations between the formal healthcare sector and THs are feasible and improve outcomes in snakebite care.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590171022000509Snakebite envenomingHealth seekingTraditional healersTraditional medicineAllopathic healthcareCollaboration |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan Steinhorst Frank-Leonel Tianyi Abdulrazaq Garba Habib George O. Oluoch David G. Lalloo Ymkje Stienstra Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care Toxicon: X Snakebite envenoming Health seeking Traditional healers Traditional medicine Allopathic healthcare Collaboration |
| title | Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| title_full | Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| title_fullStr | Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| title_full_unstemmed | Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| title_short | Uniting behind a common goal: Collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| title_sort | uniting behind a common goal collaboration between traditional healers and allopathic health care workers to improve rural snakebite care |
| topic | Snakebite envenoming Health seeking Traditional healers Traditional medicine Allopathic healthcare Collaboration |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590171022000509 |
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