Contested or complementary healing paradigms? Women's narratives of COVID-19 remedies in Mwanza, Tanzania

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 has caused worldwide fear and uncertainty. Historically, the biomedical disease paradigm established its dominance in tackling emerging infectious illnesses mainly due to innovation in medication and advances in technology. Traditional and religious remedies have emerged as plausible options for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, especially in Africa and Asia. The appeal of religious and traditional therapies against COVID-19 in the African setting must be understood within the historical, social, and political context. This study explored how women and community members dealt with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 in Mwanza, Tanzania.

METHODS

This study was conducted in Nyamagana and Ilemela districts of Mwanza, Tanzania, between July and August 2020. We conducted 18 mobile phone in-depth interviews with a purposively selected sample of women aged 27-57 years participating in an existing longitudinal study. For safety reasons, smart mobile phones were used to collect the data. Each interview was audio recorded after obtaining verbal consent from the participants. The audio files were transferred to computers for analysis. Four researchers conducted a multistage, inductive analysis of the data.

RESULTS

Participants reported wide use and perceived high efficacy of traditional remedies and prayer to prevent and treat suspected symptoms of COVID-19. Use was either alone or combined with public health recommendations such as hand washing and crowd avoidance. Despite acknowledging that a pathogen causes COVID-19, participants attested to the relevance and power of traditional herbal medication and prayer to curb COVID-19. Four main factors underline the symbolic efficacy of the traditional and religious treatment paradigms: personal, communal, and official reinforcement of their efficacy; connection to local knowledge and belief systems; the failure of biomedicine to offer a quick and effective solution; and availability.

CONCLUSIONS

In the context of emerging contagious illnesses, communities turn to resilient and trusted treatment paradigms to quell fear and embrace hope. To tackle emerging infections effectively, it is essential to engage the broader sociopolitical landscape, including communal considerations of therapeutic efficacy.

Use of traditional and complementary medicine among Norwegian cancer patients in the seventh survey of the Tromsø study

Background

Traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) is commonly used by cancer patients in Northern Norway, in particular spiritual forms like traditional healing. T&CM is mainly used complementary to conventional cancer treatment and is rarely discussed with conventional health care providers, increasing the risk of negative interaction with conventional cancer care. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of T&CM among cancer patients in Tromsø, and to investigate the differences in T&CM use between people living with cancer, people with cancer previously, and people without a history of cancer.

Method

Data was drawn from the seventh survey of the Tromsø study conducted in 2015–2016. All inhabitants of Tromsø aged 40 and above were invited to participate (n = 32,591) of whom n = 21,083 accepted the invitation (response rate 65%). Data was collected thorough three self-administered questionnaires and a comprehensive clinical examination. Pearson chi-square tests, Fisher exact tests and one-way ANOVA tests were used to describe differences between the groups while binary logistic regressions were used for adjusted values.

Results

Eight percent of the participants (n = 1636) reported to have (n = 404) or have had (n = 1232) cancer. Of the participants with cancer at present 33.4% reported use of T&CM within the last year, 13.6% had consulted a T&CM provider, 17.9% had used herbal medicine/natural remedies and 6.4% had practiced self-help techniques. The participants with cancer at present were more likely to have visited a T&CM provider than participants with cancer previously (13.6% vs. 8.7%, p = 0.020). Among the participants with cancer at present, 6.4% reported to have consulted a TM provider, 5.8% had consulted an acupuncturist, while 4.7% had consulted other CM providers. Women were significantly more likely than men to have used acupuncture and self-help techniques. No significant gender differences were found regarding visits to other CM providers, TM providers nor use of herbal medicine/natural remedies.

Conclusion

The findings are in line with previous research suggesting that both men and women use TM complementary to other CM modalities outside the official health care system. As herbal medicine might interact with conventional cancer treatment, health care providers need to discuss such use with their patients.

Prevalence and associations for use of a traditional medicine provider in the SAMINOR 1 Survey: a population-based study on Health and Living Conditions in Regions with Sami and Norwegian Populations

Background

In Northern Norway, traditional medicine (TM) is shaped by both Christianity and traditional Sami nature worship. The healing rituals may include prayer and the use of tools such as moss, water, stones, wool and soil. Examples of TM modalities offered is cupping, blood-stemming, laying on of hands, healing prayers, and rituals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the use of TM in areas with predominantly Sami and Norwegian populations, and the influence of ethnicity, geography, gender, age, education, household income, religiosity and self-reported health on such use.

Methods

The study is based on data collected in the first SAMINOR Survey (SAMINOR 1) conducted in 2003/2004, including three self-administered questionnaires, clinical measures, and blood analyses. Data was collected in 24 municipalities in Norway known to have a substantial population of Sami. All residents aged 30 and 36–78/79 years in the predefined regions were invited regardless of ethnic background (N = 27,987). Of these, 16,865 (60.3%) accepted to participate and gave their consent to medical research.

Results

Of the 16,544 people responding to the question about TM use, 2276 (13.8%) reported to have used TM once or more during their lifetime. The most outstanding characteristic of the TM users was the affiliation to the Laestadian church, where 34.3% (n = 273) reported such use, followed by an inner Finnmark residence (31.1%, n = 481) and a Sami ethnicity (25.7%, n = 1014). Women were slightly more likely to use TM compared to men (15.9% and 11.5% accordingly, p < 0.001), and the TM users were slightly younger than the non-TM users (mean age 52.3 versus 54.3 years, p < 0.001). The TM users also had lower income (p < 0.001) than the non-TM users. We found no significant differences between the TM users and the non-TM users concerning years of education, and whether the participants were living with a spouse/partner or not.

Conclusion

Further studies are necessary to examine the development of TM use in Norway over time, and use in areas with mainly Norwegian inhabitants. There is also a lack of studies quantifying TM use among Sami people in Sweden, Finland and Russia.