The first SABCOHA breakfast of the year - the gatherings are held approximately every six weeks - was held on 12 February 2009, with the topic, Traditional healers and South African business: opportunities and challenges of working together in response to HIV/AIDS.

The keynote speaker was Dr David Dickinson, associate professor: industrial relations and HIV/AIDS in the workplace, assisted by John Standish-White of Anglo Coal; Sheila Mbele-Khama, the chair of the Ekurhuleni Traditional Health Practitioners Forum; and an Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality family health official.

Based on the amount of interest shown in this topic at the SABCOHA Private Sector Conference in 2008 and in view of the fact that many South Africans consult traditional healers, the objective of the breakfast was to explore the challenges and possibilities of companies and traditional healers working together in response to HIV/AIDS.

Dr Dickinson opened the discussion by pointing out that no one knows how many traditional healers there are in South Africa but said that a figure of "250 000 has been floating around".

He noted that the term traditional healing (TH) included working with the ancestors and witchcraft, as well as "pollution - violating certain elements in life". "Many traditional healers believe that HIV/AIDS is an old disease" but that a survey showed that there were up to 28 different names for the disease and "no agreement as what this old disease is".

Standish-White had attendees laughing when he said dealing with HIV/AIDS should not be all doom and gloom. "We must also have fun and have a sense of humour."

His company had five pillars for dealing with the epidemic: status, prevention, education, treatment and partnerships. "We invited people among the staff who were also traditional healers to identify themselves and they all agreed with the five pillars," Standish-White added, saying it was important to work with traditional healers and to build trust.

Mbele-Khama, who is a traditional healer, added that "Anglo is already incorporating traditional healers into their clinics". She pointed out that traditional healing was a major service sector in South Africa and was worth about R3-billion.

She updated the attendees on the state of the Organisation of Traditional Healers and the Traditional Health Practitioners Act. The Department of Health is required to implement the Act to form the Traditional Healers Council.

Mbele-Khama pointed out that the Act was promulgated on 10 January 2008 but the department had still not formed an interim council - which means that traditional healers could not offer sick certificates to employees. However, the traditional healer's organisation was already working closely with the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality.

It was important to work with local government, she said, adding that "the government and business should view TH as a formal sector".

This view was shared by a representative from the Ekurhuleni Traditional Health Practitioners Forum who said "TH will become an integral part of health care and that consumers will be able to choose who to go to".

The municipality had already set up forums in three regions but there were still challenges, such as misunderstandings between traditional healers.

The formal part of the breakfast was followed by a lively question and answer session with many questioning the claim by some healers that they can cure HIV/AIDS. It was stated by some of the healers that this was misunderstanding in translation, and Mbele-Khana said: "We can treat HIV/AIDS but we can't cure it."

Brad Mears, the chief executive of SABCOHA, concluded the discussion.

"We need to collaborate with each other. A frank and respectful dialogue is needed. There is no formal business relationship between ourselves and there is a lot of work still to be done. But by working together we can offer a more holistic strategy," he said. - Les Tilley

For the presentation on traditional healing by Sheila Mbele-Khama, click here.

For the presentation on the Ekurhuleni Traditional Health Practitioners' Programme, click here.

For David Dickinson's presentation, Traditional healers and South African business:
Opportunities and challenges of working together in response to HIV/AIDS, click here.

For more pictures, view the Image Gallery

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