Ladies and Gentlemen,
The theme for the Fourth African Traditional Medicine Day is “Scaling up Collaboration between Traditional Health Practitioners and Conventional Health Practitioners in the Prevention of HIV/AIDS”. This theme is in line with the launch that was made by the African Union and United Nations system on 11 April 2006. The launch was a follow-up to the Declaration by the African health ministers in 2005 in Maputo which called for the year 2006 to be the Year for Acceleration of HIV Prevention in the WHO African Region and called on Member States to intensify HIV prevention efforts.
In March 2006, a consultation which was convened by the AU with the support of UNAIDS, WHO, ECA and DFID adopted the “Brazzaville Commitment on Scaling up Universal Access to HIV and AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support” in which they agreed to ensure synergy in implementing a joint regional plan to support acceleration of HIV prevention. The Consultation was attended by more than 250 participants from the 53 member states of the African Union. Participants included health ministers, government representatives, parliamentarians, national AIDS councils, faith-based organizations and civil society organizations and people living with HIV.
The special African Summit of Heads of State and Government on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held in Abuja in May 2006 issued a call to respective national, regional, continental and international partners, and civil society groups, including traditional health practitioners, to intensify their efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to congratulate and call upon practitioners of the two systems of medicine who are already collaborating in various aspects of traditional medicine development to intensify and coordinate their efforts and take action in a synergistic manner in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Studies conducted in some countries of the African Region indicate improved health care delivery, including earlier referral of patients to biomedical facilities by traditional health practitioners, increased knowledge on sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS. There is also increased awareness of complications, modes of transmission and prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS.
There is better understanding by communities of the practices and roles of both traditional and conventional medicine. There is also greater communication between the two systems, using knowledge gained by the traditional health practitioners to build capacity at community level in many countries in the African Region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Despite these positive aspects, in many countries, HIV/AIDS prevention efforts have been fragmented, unfocused and redundant due to the failure of key stakeholders to work with each other and align their support to nationally agreed strategies. Failure to integrate national collaborative strategies, policies and programmes ignores the increasing contributions by practitioners of the two systems of medicine in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. All practitioners need to better appreciate the strengths of both disciplines. We need therefore to take steps to overcome these challenges if traditional medicine is to systematically contribute to the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Countries need to establish structures for sharing information regarding HIV/AIDS prevention, thereby developing a spirit of openness and transparency among practitioners. WHO has developed various tools for providing continuing education of traditional health practitioners in primary health care, training students in health science and retraining conventional medicine practitioners in traditional medicine. These tools can be adapted and used by countries for their specific purposes.
Countries need to involve communities in HIV/AIDS prevention and other public health efforts. There is also need to improve the qualifications, professional organizations and practices of traditional health practitioners. Countries also need to create and sustain an enabling policy environment and legal framework that facilitate the implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention plans and programmes involving practitioners of both traditional and conventional medicine. There is further need for mobilization and allocation of adequate resources for prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Successful collaboration involves the institutionalization of traditional medicine in health systems, including development of codes of conduct and ethics to ensure the quality of services provided by traditional health practitioners.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Countries should embrace traditional health practitioners as partners in the health care system. The proximity of these practitioners to the community makes them a reliable resource to support families and individuals.
W HO is committed to supporting countries to link prevention to care as clearly stated in the Brazzaville Commitment. The year 2010 is the target year for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support; it is also the end of the Decade of African Traditional Medicine. If the target for universal access is to be attained, w e must act now to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the plans of action for HIV/AIDS prevention.
Countries should seize this opportunity to scale up collaboration between practitioners of both traditional and conventional medicine. This is one avenue of potential for reaching large numbers of people who otherwise would have very little access to HIV/AIDS prevention and care services.
Thank you.