Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 January 2008
Harare — THE Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers' Association began registering its members who claim to cure HIV and Aids on Friday.
Scores of traditional practitioners from Harare and surrounding areas converged at the Zinatha head office in the capital for a meeting to launch the registration exercise, which would cascade to the provinces.
Zinatha secretary for information and publicity, Mr Tapera Dzviti said the meeting also discussed the increasing cases of traditional practitioners who were ripping off people living with HIV and Aids of their hard-earned cash by lying that they could cure them of the infection.
"Many traditional healers are claiming that they can cure the infection and are taking money from people," he said.
Mr Dzviti said the association had agreed with conventional medical practitioners that treat HIV and Aids to refer people living with HIV to traditional medical practitioners who will ascertain efficacy of their herbal medicines.
He said the traditional medical practitioners would each be allocated at least three patients, who they would treat for a certain period while tests were conducted to ascertain whether their CD4 counts were improving. The tests would be conducted on HIV positive people who are not on anti-retroviral drugs.
Mr Dzviti said his association would this week start inviting people living with the infection to register for trials with traditional medical practitioners.
He said cases of traditional medical practitioners swindling people of their money had so far been reported in Mutare and Ruwa.
"We want to settle the issue once and for all," said Mr Dzviti, adding the registration exercise would be decentralised to the provinces to save members from incurring transport costs to Harare.
Government has committed itself to developing traditional medicine by streamlining it into the main health delivery system.
It has since established a Traditional Medical Practitioners Council to regulate the practice as well as develop a code of ethics.
The majority of people in Zimbabwe rely on traditional medicine although most consult the practitioners under the cover of darkness due to the stigma that colonialists attached to the practice, which they described as barbaric. -- New Ziana.
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i am executive director of the organisation for african herbalists based in south africa,free state province and iwould like to learn from other countries the way they approach the war against hiv ad aids.so keep that good spirit up just to show the world that traditional healers can do the difference through cultural curative plants!!!!