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Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector

INTRODUCTION: we sought to explore the knowledge and practices among traditional bonesetters (TBSs) in the Northern Region of Ghana and to assess opportunities for their engagement with the formal health sector. METHODS: we identified 28 TBSs widely distributed in the Northern Region. They were inte...

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Autores principales: Yempabe, Tolgou, Edusei, Anthony, Donkor, Peter, Buunaaim, Alexis, Mock, Charles
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7847210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33552366
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.248.22420
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author Yempabe, Tolgou
Edusei, Anthony
Donkor, Peter
Buunaaim, Alexis
Mock, Charles
author_facet Yempabe, Tolgou
Edusei, Anthony
Donkor, Peter
Buunaaim, Alexis
Mock, Charles
author_sort Yempabe, Tolgou
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: we sought to explore the knowledge and practices among traditional bonesetters (TBSs) in the Northern Region of Ghana and to assess opportunities for their engagement with the formal health sector. METHODS: we identified 28 TBSs widely distributed in the Northern Region. They were interviewed using qualitative and quantitative methods, regarding their background, training, current practices, opinions regarding orthodox care, and interests in future linkages with the formal health sector. RESULTS: most TBSs (67.9%) had no formal education and most (85.7%) learned their skills from older family members. Their treatments included reasonable versions of closed reduction and immobilization, but also use of locally-derived concoctions and spiritual aspects, such as incantations. Only 21.4% regularly referred complications to hospital. Nonetheless, all endorsed advantages to orthodox care, such as X-rays (100%), record keeping (100%), and pain management (85.7%). Almost all (96.4%) expressed an interest in training courses or other engagement with the formal health sector. Topics in which they were interested for training included record keeping (100%), pain management (85.7%), and management of open fractures and complications (82.1%). CONCLUSION: factors making linkage between TBSs and the formal health sector difficult included low levels of formal education, training through secretive in-family methods, and spiritual and mystical aspects of their practice that might make communications about modern medicine difficult. Nonetheless, most indicated interest in linking with modern care, especially through training courses. Topics they suggested for such courses provide a foundation to build on in future efforts to engage TBSs with the formal health sector.
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spelling pubmed-78472102021-02-05 Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector Yempabe, Tolgou Edusei, Anthony Donkor, Peter Buunaaim, Alexis Mock, Charles Pan Afr Med J Research INTRODUCTION: we sought to explore the knowledge and practices among traditional bonesetters (TBSs) in the Northern Region of Ghana and to assess opportunities for their engagement with the formal health sector. METHODS: we identified 28 TBSs widely distributed in the Northern Region. They were interviewed using qualitative and quantitative methods, regarding their background, training, current practices, opinions regarding orthodox care, and interests in future linkages with the formal health sector. RESULTS: most TBSs (67.9%) had no formal education and most (85.7%) learned their skills from older family members. Their treatments included reasonable versions of closed reduction and immobilization, but also use of locally-derived concoctions and spiritual aspects, such as incantations. Only 21.4% regularly referred complications to hospital. Nonetheless, all endorsed advantages to orthodox care, such as X-rays (100%), record keeping (100%), and pain management (85.7%). Almost all (96.4%) expressed an interest in training courses or other engagement with the formal health sector. Topics in which they were interested for training included record keeping (100%), pain management (85.7%), and management of open fractures and complications (82.1%). CONCLUSION: factors making linkage between TBSs and the formal health sector difficult included low levels of formal education, training through secretive in-family methods, and spiritual and mystical aspects of their practice that might make communications about modern medicine difficult. Nonetheless, most indicated interest in linking with modern care, especially through training courses. Topics they suggested for such courses provide a foundation to build on in future efforts to engage TBSs with the formal health sector. The African Field Epidemiology Network 2020-11-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7847210/ /pubmed/33552366 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.248.22420 Text en Copyright: Tolgou Yempabe et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 The Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Yempabe, Tolgou
Edusei, Anthony
Donkor, Peter
Buunaaim, Alexis
Mock, Charles
Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title_full Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title_fullStr Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title_full_unstemmed Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title_short Traditional bonesetters in northern Ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
title_sort traditional bonesetters in northern ghana: opportunities for engagement with the formal health sector
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7847210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33552366
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.248.22420
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