Promoting Indigenous Health Systems

BY: .

‘I feel honoured to have had an opportunity to explore the less travelled terrain of Indigenous Health Systems,’ said Dr Nompumelelo Mbatha following her graduation with a PhD in Traditional Medicine.

‘This has been a very humbling experience which allowed me to understand and value the role played by African culture, spirituality and the indigenous health system in our South African health system,’ she added.

‘Having been initiated as a Traditional Health Practitioner, I wanted to understand the comprehensive dynamics and challenges involved in traditional healing practice and the potential role one could play in contributing to academic development and empirical knowledge for institutional development,’ she explained.

Mbatha’s study investigated Traditional Healing training methods to develop a framework for accredited training based on Traditional Healer Practice in KwaZulu-Natal.

‘The findings outlined learning methods, content, and core competencies critical to Traditional Health Practitioner training and a framework for training accreditation. At least three publications were achieved from this work. The study adds to the limited empirical data on traditional healer training systems and creates an opportunity to develop a credible indigenous training programme for practitioners,’ Mbatha explained. She said her future plans include using the accreditation framework to develop such programmes.

Mbatha said academic development and financial support from UKZN enabled her to successfully complete her study. ‘I must add that the academic support came with a stringent focus on academic excellence that enabled my optimal development.’ She is currently busy with her fourth publication from her study.

Words: Nombuso Dlamini

Photograph: Supplied