Exploring the potential for a culturally relevant HIV intervention project: a Swaziland example

Typically, humanitarian workers view local conceptions of healing and disease as barriers to the prevention and treatment of HIV. This project aimed to engage Swazi traditional healers in discussions about the potential utility of conceptualizing HIV within the framework of Swazi traditional healing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropology & medicine 2010-04, Vol.17 (1), p.87-98
Main Author: Knox, Justin R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Alternative medicine
Belief & doubt
Collaboration
Culture
Disease prevention
Ethnography
Healing
HIV
HIV Infections - ethnology
HIV Infections - prevention & control
HIV Infections - therapy
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarianism
Humans
Illness
Intervention
Medical anthropology
Medical treatment
Medicine, African Traditional - methods
Prevention
Public health
Swaziland
traditional healing
Traditional medicine
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Summary:Typically, humanitarian workers view local conceptions of healing and disease as barriers to the prevention and treatment of HIV. This project aimed to engage Swazi traditional healers in discussions about the potential utility of conceptualizing HIV within the framework of Swazi traditional healing beliefs in order to determine the benefits and challenges of developing a locally-adapted HIV prevention model for Swaziland. Fieldwork was conducted in Swaziland from May through July 2006 to explore this hypothesis. The project evolved, through interactions with healers, to include observations on the dynamic nature of Swazi traditional healing beliefs and intervention practice. The study concludes that ethnographic approaches have the potential to enhance HIV intervention planning models by illustrating the complexities associated with collaboration. An anthropological perspective was able to facilitate an analysis of the diverse notions of 'culture' and the political and economic interests involved, which in turn proved useful in understanding what was at stake in this situation.
ISSN:1364-8470
1469-2910
DOI:10.1080/13648471003607615