Health service delivery systems in Tanzania an investigation of how traditional medicine coexists with biomedicine in Bukoba District
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Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the way in which Traditional Medicine (TM) coexists with biomedicine in the delivery of health services in Tanzania and to examine the effects of such coexistence on health service delivery in rural areas in the country. In particular, the study sought to find out whether the existing policy and legal framework enables TM to interact with biomedicine, that is, whether TM complements, accommodates, competes with or substitutes for biomedicine.
The literature on modernity and tradition was reviewed so as to identify a conceptual and theoretical framework for this study. The main argument is that, although they are different, traditional and modem elements coexist in various societies in the world and that such coexistence has certain effects on the functioning of any sociopolitical organization. Thus, the study employed Helmke and Levitsky’s (2004) model of formal and informal institutions in comparative politics to establish how TM and biomedicine coexist and to determine the effects of such coexistence on health service delivery in rural areas in Tanzania.
The study was conducted in five wards of Bukoba district and involved 50 respondents, namely household respondents, traditional health practitioners (THPs), the Chairperson of Kagera Regional TBAs and THPs Association, the Registrar of TM, biomedical practitioners and the Director of the Institute of TM. The respondents were obtained using purposive, snowball and convenience sampling techniques. The data were gathered through interviews, observations and a review of relevant documents, and they were analyzed qualitatively.
The findings show that, although TM is, to some extent, perceived as an inferior system by the 1996 National Health Policy and various laws, it complements and accommodates biomedicine in health service delivery. They also show that TM is highly involved in the treatment of non-communicable and chronic diseases which cannot be treated by biomedicine in rural areas. Therefore, it complements and accommodates biomedicine by increasing the accessibility and availability of health services in such areas. However, the current coexistence of the two systems is likely to lead to such health-related problems as deaths, drug reactions and body weaknesses due to the concurrent use of TM and biomedicine or to abrupt discontinuation of either a TM dosage or a biomedical one. Thus, the Government should develop a TM policy that details the structures, functions and administration of TM from the national level to the village level without biomedicine unnecessarily interfering with TM. Moreover, the ongoing TM formalization process should go hand in hand with a review of the relevant laws so that THPs and biomedical practitioners may collaborate effectively in providing health services in the country. Finally, the study recommends further examination of how TM coexists with biomedicine in urban areas and of how biomedicine coexists or interacts with TM in rural areas.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF GN477.T34K32)
Keywords
Health service delivery systems, traditional medicine, iomedicine
Citation
Kabyemela, M. (2017) Health service delivery systems in Tanzania an investigation of how traditional medicine coexists with biomedicine in Bukoba District. Doctoral dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.