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Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali

Background: Noma can be a lethal disease and causes disfigurement in young children in low-resource countries, particularly in Africa. In these settings, 80% of the population mainly consult traditional healers for healthcare problems. Our study aimed to describe the sociodemographic characteristics...

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Autores principales: Baratti-Mayer, Denise, Baba Daou, Moussa, Gayet-Ageron, Angèle, Jeannot, Emilien, Pittet-Cuénod, Brigitte
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31752451
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224587
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author Baratti-Mayer, Denise
Baba Daou, Moussa
Gayet-Ageron, Angèle
Jeannot, Emilien
Pittet-Cuénod, Brigitte
author_facet Baratti-Mayer, Denise
Baba Daou, Moussa
Gayet-Ageron, Angèle
Jeannot, Emilien
Pittet-Cuénod, Brigitte
author_sort Baratti-Mayer, Denise
collection PubMed
description Background: Noma can be a lethal disease and causes disfigurement in young children in low-resource countries, particularly in Africa. In these settings, 80% of the population mainly consult traditional healers for healthcare problems. Our study aimed to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of traditional healers and to assess their knowledge of noma. Methods: We conducted a survey among traditional healers in three Malian regions from May 2015 to January 2016 and collected data on sociodemographic characteristics, professional activity, knowledge, and experience of noma and collaboration with modern medicine. Results: Among 770 traditional healers invited to participate, 732 responded (95%) (mean age, 54.5 years). Most were illiterate (66.3%), which was associated with older age (p < 0.001). Although they treated all types of disease, only 10.5% had some knowledge of noma, with regional differences (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Noma is poorly known among traditional healers, especially in remote areas. Our findings suggest a lack of interest among young people for traditional medicine, implying an imminent decrease of healers, and thus the need for national health systems to strengthen and promote access to modern health care. Training programmes to improve the early diagnosis referral of noma patients should include all types of primary health workers.
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spelling pubmed-68882582019-12-09 Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali Baratti-Mayer, Denise Baba Daou, Moussa Gayet-Ageron, Angèle Jeannot, Emilien Pittet-Cuénod, Brigitte Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Noma can be a lethal disease and causes disfigurement in young children in low-resource countries, particularly in Africa. In these settings, 80% of the population mainly consult traditional healers for healthcare problems. Our study aimed to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of traditional healers and to assess their knowledge of noma. Methods: We conducted a survey among traditional healers in three Malian regions from May 2015 to January 2016 and collected data on sociodemographic characteristics, professional activity, knowledge, and experience of noma and collaboration with modern medicine. Results: Among 770 traditional healers invited to participate, 732 responded (95%) (mean age, 54.5 years). Most were illiterate (66.3%), which was associated with older age (p < 0.001). Although they treated all types of disease, only 10.5% had some knowledge of noma, with regional differences (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Noma is poorly known among traditional healers, especially in remote areas. Our findings suggest a lack of interest among young people for traditional medicine, implying an imminent decrease of healers, and thus the need for national health systems to strengthen and promote access to modern health care. Training programmes to improve the early diagnosis referral of noma patients should include all types of primary health workers. MDPI 2019-11-19 2019-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6888258/ /pubmed/31752451 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224587 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Baratti-Mayer, Denise
Baba Daou, Moussa
Gayet-Ageron, Angèle
Jeannot, Emilien
Pittet-Cuénod, Brigitte
Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title_full Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title_fullStr Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title_full_unstemmed Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title_short Sociodemographic Characteristics of Traditional Healers and Their Knowledge of Noma: A Descriptive Survey in Three Regions of Mali
title_sort sociodemographic characteristics of traditional healers and their knowledge of noma: a descriptive survey in three regions of mali
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31752451
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224587
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