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Unlikely HIV/AIDS alliance examined

    JOHANNESBURG

    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday examined the "unlikely alliance" in Africa between traditional healers and "practitioners of modern medicine" in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

    Dr Virginia Davis Floyd, a visiting scholar at Spelman College, in Atlanta, Georgia, said 85 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa received part or all of their health care and health education from traditional healers.

    She told the Journal that "Most people in Africa don't have access to primary health care. Since we don't have doctors or nurses in many of these places, the only primary provider is the traditional healer."

    The report said traditional healers were now "being courted as the first line of defence against" HIV/AIDS.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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