[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/cervical-cancer-61-q1-how-do-people-you... ]
Dear Meena,
Thank you for your comments. You note that women may often go first to a traditional healer from whom they may receive misinformation.
I would like to invite other HIFA members to comment on the role of traditional healers in prevention, screening and treatment of cervical cancer. There are likely both benefits and risks.
WHO recognises the importance of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine generally, but I couldn't find a reference to TCIM in the Global Strategy towards the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem. Nor in the other documentation associated with cervical cancer.
Incidentally, TCIM is absent from almost every disease and health area covered by WHO. Which makes me think it could be helpful if disease-specific planners and guideline developers would routinely consider the role (if any) of TCIM. Or, vice versa, that TCIM professionals prepare evidence-based papers on the role of TCIM for each WHO topic.
With this in mind I found this interesting paper:
CITATION: Arch Public Health. 2025 Feb 13;83:35. doi: 10.1186/s13690-025-01521-7
The role of traditional healers along the cancer care continuum in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review
Elizabeth F Msoka et al.
ABSTRACT
Background: Traditional healers play a significant role in Sub-Saharan Africa's healthcare system, but little is known about their role across the cancer care continuum in this context. Given the prevalence of patients consulting healers, we aimed to elucidate their role and impact on cancer care delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Methods: Following the PRISMA reporting standards, all research focused on the role of traditional healers in the cancer care continuum in sub-Saharan Africa was included in this scoping review. Data sources assessed include PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, African Journals Online, African Index Medicus, and Google Scholar. Studies that lacked perspectives on the healers’ role, focused solely on the actual herbal medicines, were written in non-English language, were not primary research, or the full-text was unavailable were excluded. Two reviewers performed screening and data extraction for each article, confirmed by a third reviewer.
Results: One thousand four hundred seventy-one studies were identified, with 1437 screened and 191 full-texts reviewed. Of those, 158 were excluded, and 33 (comprising of 1564 healers) were included for final data extraction and analysis. Five studies (64 healers) showed their role in prevention, eleven (454 healers) in diagnosis, twenty-seven (1524 healers) in treatment, and two (25 healers) in palliative care in Sub-Saharan Africa. While some desired increased collaboration with the biomedical system and referred patients, others lacked trust and remained hesitant to provide referrals.
Conclusion: Results showed that traditional healers play an important role in cancer treatment. This provides an opportunity to leverage the skills of traditional healers to improve cancer outcomes, in a way that recognizes and respects local culture. Future research focused on improving the collaboration between traditional healers and the biomedical healthcare system may lead to strengthening the referral system and early detection and treatment of cancer.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org