McGlinchey Eimear, Ranchod Kirti, Stroebel Rayne, Lusizi Bongiwe, Galvin Miriam, Kleinhans Atholl Valdon, Fortea Juan, Hoffman Jaco, Makanya Sinethemba
Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin, Ireland.
Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Jun;21(6):e70370. doi: 10.1002/alz.70370.
Traditional Healing Practitioners (THPs) provide care to the majority of the population in South Africa. Despite their widespread presence, they remain largely excluded from dementia research and policy. This reinforces healthcare inequities and overlooks the realities of communities where THPs provide care.
This paper explores the role of THPs in dementia care by examining literature in South Africa. It identifies key barriers to collaboration between THPs and medical doctors and discusses pathways for integration.
Barriers include epistemological historical marginalization, mutual distrust, fragmented care pathways, and language barriers. These challenges hinder knowledge exchange and joint dementia care strategies.
Strengthening relationships through structured engagement, bidirectional knowledge exchange, and ethical collaboration could bridge the gap between THPs and Medical Doctors (MDs). A pluralistic, integrated model valuing both systems could lead to more equitable and effective dementia care.
The majority of people in South Africa engage with Traditional Healing Practitioners (THPs) as part of their healthcare, yet THPs remain largely excluded from dementia research and policy. Barriers to collaboration between THPs and Medical Doctors (MDs) include historical marginalization, mutual distrust, fragmented care pathways, and language differences. Integrating THPs and MDs through structured engagement, bidirectional knowledge exchange, and ethical collaboration could enhance dementia care. Shifting away from the binary opposition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and biomedical approaches toward a more integrated and collaborative model of dementia care could lead to more equitable and effective healthcare. The FUNDISA (Framework for Understanding Neurocognitive Disorders via Indigenous Systems in South Africa) project aims to understand how dementia is conceptualized by THPs and foster collaboration between THPs and MDs to support effective dementia care.
传统治疗师为南非大多数人口提供护理服务。尽管他们广泛存在，但在很大程度上仍被排除在痴呆症研究和政策之外。这加剧了医疗保健的不平等，并忽视了传统治疗师提供护理服务的社区的实际情况。
本文通过研究南非的文献，探讨传统治疗师在痴呆症护理中的作用。它确定了传统治疗师与医生之间合作的关键障碍，并讨论了整合途径。
障碍包括认识论上的历史边缘化、相互不信任、护理途径分散和语言障碍。这些挑战阻碍了知识交流和联合痴呆症护理策略。
通过结构化参与、双向知识交流和道德合作加强关系，可以弥合传统治疗师与医生之间的差距。一个重视两种体系的多元化、综合模式可能会带来更公平、有效的痴呆症护理。
南非大多数人将传统治疗师作为其医疗保健的一部分，但传统治疗师在很大程度上仍被排除在痴呆症研究和政策之外。传统治疗师与医生之间合作的障碍包括历史边缘化、相互不信任、护理途径分散和语言差异。通过结构化参与、双向知识交流和道德合作将传统治疗师与医生整合起来，可以加强痴呆症护理。从本土知识体系（IKS）和生物医学方法的二元对立转向更综合、协作的痴呆症护理模式，可能会带来更公平、有效的医疗保健。FUNDISA（通过南非本土系统理解神经认知障碍框架）项目旨在了解传统治疗师如何看待痴呆症，并促进传统治疗师与医生之间的合作，以支持有效的痴呆症护理。
