COLLABORATION OR INTEGRATION?

DIFFERENCES OF
TRADITIONAL AND
MODERN HEALTH CARE
SYSTEMS
DEBATE- yahoo
TRADITIONAL MEDICINE MODERN MEDICINE
There is no way!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone supporting modern Modern medicine is
medicine is just saying scientifically tested
because. " That is not very
Most herbal medicines have
convincing. Alternative
never been tested in the lab,
medicine has been researched
traditional healers only
and has proved to work. Many
acquire their knowledge from
doctors just chose to ignore it
their ancestors whom they
though because they cannot
got it from observation only,
make a profit of it. People that
as they had never done any
are in stage-5 of cancer have
scientific experiments, they
proven to only have a two
don't know what are the
percent chance of living five
components of a certain
more years if they take
herbtic as well as how it cure
chemotherapy treatments.
diseases,
That makes me sad. To think
therefore I believe we should
that we do have treatments
take the herbs and send them
that are guaranteed to cure,
 KEY DIFFERENCES TM VS MM
Traditional medicine
Diseases are believed to be caused
by witchcraft ,punishment from
Beliefs about disease causation
ancestral spirits and supernatural
powers
Virtually none, though some
Regulation countries are trying to introduce
rules and standardisation
No formal testing as knowledge of
Testing the effectiveness is handed down
through generations
Unfixed: the amount of medicine
given might be roughly similar, but
Dosage
the active ingredient (which is what
dosage really is) can vary hugely
There is a body of knowledge and
Body of knowledge
this promotes easy referencing
No formal training ,but knowledge
is often passed one-to-one through
Training
families, and practitioners are often
born into a family of healers
Modern medicine
Diseases are believed to
caused by micro-organisms,
body dysfunctions and
disequilibrium
Extremely tight, to the point that
bringing drugs to market now costs
billions of dollars
Rigorous trials that happen in
different phases, first testing for
safety, then efficacy
Fixed doses that tend to vary only
slightly with age or weight, or
disease severity
No body of knowledge and
referencing is therefore impossible
Often vocational: health
professionals go through formal
training in schools and universities
 BW HEALTH POLICY

2.6.3 Other Service Providers and

Facilities
2.6.3.2 Although traditional medicine is
widely used, there is no regulatory
framework governing the practice.
However, the Ministry of Health, in
consultation with traditional health
practitioners and other stakeholders,
is in the process of formulating a bill
to regulate traditional medicine.
 POLICY INITIATIVES
m) The government shall provide the
regulatory framework for alternative
medicine practice and create an
enabling environment for the
effective involvement of traditional
practitioners, as well as for exploring
traditional medicinal plants.
 POLICY INITIATIVES
The government shall develop a
regulatory mechanism for alternate
medical (traditional- herbalist,
homeopathy, etc.) practices,
preferably in the form of an Act to be
administered by MOH and the
Traditional Practitioners Association
through the creation of a registration
system for alternate medical
practitioners, in order to safeguard
against malpractice and misconduct.
 FLASH BACK

Proclamation No.62 ,1934, from the

Bechuanaland protectorates High
Commission ,section 2 stipulated that
no person shall practice in territory
as a medical practitioner, dentist,
chemist , nurse or midwife unless he
is registered as such in accordance
with the provision of this
Proclamation-Staugard(1985:21-22)
 F/town report on collaboration-
1990
Collaboration involve:
Seminars and discussion with TM
healers ,which take-up cooperation
and two-way referral, the
management of different diseases
and prevention and control of the
main public health problem.
 F/town report cont

Facilitating self-referral by patients

from the modern health care center
and encouraging follow-up by the
traditional health practitioner after
completion of treatment.
COLLABORATION OF TM AMD MM
 COLLABORATION

Collaboration involves working

together between traditional health
care system and modern health care
system i.e. an act of cooperation.
SYNONYMS
PARTNERSHIP
COOPERATION
ASSOCIATION
COLLABORATION
COLLABORATION
 COLLABORATION

the national health care system is based

entirely on allopathic medicine but some
traditional or complementary/ alternative
medicine practices are tolerated by the
law.
traditional medicine and modern medicine
co-exist as two independent sectors, each
respecting the uniqueness of the other.
 BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
Important in developing trust
between researchers and locals
Training and provision of adequate
information to consumers and THPs
Gov. could make policies that would
protect TMPs and give them identity
 BENEFITS cont....
Traditional healers are already a
trusted source of health information
and treatment. Given appropriate
skills and means, they are well
placed to play a bigger role in
combating Africas major diseases.
Traditional healers can be particularly
effective in monitoring disease
outbreaks. They live within
communities and are likely to be the
 EXAMPLE
The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) was on
the rise in the Hlabisa district of
KwaZulu/Natal, up by 360 per cent in the
seven years prior to 1999. TB can be easily
cured if patients take their medication
every day and complete the course. But
with the treatment lasting between six and
eight months, many drop out. However, an
innovative partnership between medical
and traditional practitioners helped reduce
the spread through a course that trained
healers to supervise and record the doses
CHALLENGES OF COLLABORATION

Charlatanism no professional
qualification, damages reputation of
tm
Healers considers their knowledge of
medicinal plants to be inherently
secretive and a gift from ancestors
THPs are reluctant to hand
information to an uninitiated
researcher
Probability of imprecise dosage, poor
 CHALLENGES cont...

No legislation and regulatory body

that blend TM and MM.
 INTEGRATION OF TM & MM
WHO (2000) explains integration as
incorporation of traditional medicine
(TM) into general health care system
of the nation(obviously modern
medicine)

Blending of traditional and modern

medicine as two branches of medical
science i.e. efforts to synthesize two
branches in order to form a new
SYNONIMS OF INTEGRATION
i. Amalgamation
ii. Combination
iii. Mixing
iv. Assimilation
v. Merge
vi. Fusion
INTEGRATION
 INTEGRATION EXPLAINED
Integration involves the following:
Traditional medicine is officially
recognized and incorporated into all
areas of health care provision
TM therapies are available at the
hospitals and clinics
Reimbursing traditional medicine
under health insurance
A flexible system capable of
accommodating individual skills and
WHO PROMOTES
INTEGRATION!
 BENEFITS OF INTEGARTION
It offers the reciprocal benefit to each
system

Improves general health care

knowledge for the greater welfare of
mankind , especially in view of
inherent possibilities for wider and
more efficient population coverage.
 BENEFITS cont...
It enhances the quality of the
practitioners as well as increase their
numbers
Promotes the dissemination of
knowledge relating to PHC
Offers the best means of achieving
the goal of health care for the entire
population.
 CHALLENGES ON
INTEGRATION
The indigenous curers may feel
threatened that the special status
inherent in their role will be lost
through integration with modern
medicine.
Traditional practitioners may have
difficulty in preserving their
indigenous knowledge base and
culture while being open to the
modernization process.
 CHALLENGES cont...
may somehow push some traditional
practitioners to extinction, as some
may be hesitant on embracing the
new system.
Much research ought to be
undertaken to merge TM and MM
 HERE IS THE CONCLUTION
OF THE MATTER!
COLLABORATIO
N

BW

INTEGARTION
 FINAL THOUGHT!

Botswana needs both health care

systems and the two need each other
Collaboration should be a foundation
for integration
Staugard viewed an integration of TM
& MM as a bad choice and probably
the kiss of death to TM(1985:91)
surcease
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