Share & more
The Zambian Health Ministry has launched a research programme that will unite the country’s traditional and Western-trained doctors in the country’s fight against HIV/AIDS, Zambian news reports said on Tuesday. The Ministry of health was quoted as saying that traditional healers were often better suited to conduct HIV/AIDS-awareness education than their Western-trained counterparts because the healers were grounded in traditional culture. Observers were quoted as saying that Zambia’s interest in traditional medicine and counselling also reflected increasing frustration with expensive anti-HIV/AIDS drugs.
According to the Central Board of Health statistics, one Zambian medical doctor had to look after 20,000 people, one clinical officer had to cater for 500 people while one nurse had to care for 200 people. With an estimated 200 new infections a day, the disease had reduced the life expectancy Zambia from nearly 49 years in 1991 to 37 years at present.
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