About 340 healers have been registered since Zanzibar, a region of
the east African country of Tanzania, passed the Traditional and
Alternative Medicine Act in 2009.
There are an estimated 2,000 more healers, or mgangas, hoping to
register, said Hassan Combo, the government registrar at the council
that records them.
Traditional healer Bi Mwanahija Mzee has already registered. She
tends to patients at her busy clinic where women line up in the
early morning sun cradling their sick children.
One family seeks relief for a child suffering from an umbilical
hernia, scared that if they bring the child to hospital for surgery
he will die. A pregnant woman who has repeatedly miscarried comes
for reassurance, herbs and prayers that this baby will survive.
“People come here because I actually help them. I met many patients
that went to hospital first and got no help or the medicine didn’t
work,” said Mwanahija Mzee, 56.
"This is my job six days a week for more than 20 years so I do
better, know more than them. Patients that come to me don’t die."
Mwanahija Mzee's parents were also traditional healers in Zanzibar,
an archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
To be registered, mgangas must be aged at least 18, have at least
three years of experience and have a recommendation letter from a
trained mganga. A council of 11 members that can include birth
attendants, respected healers, village elders and lawyers approve
the applications each month.
For photo essay, see
https://widerimage.reuters.com/
story/tanzanias-zanzibar-begins-to-register-traditional-healers
While the government does not try to dictate healers' methods, it
tries to work with them on quality control, government registrar
Combo said, for example ensuring plants used in medicines are of the
same standard.
A group facilitated by the registrars office links doctors with
traditional healers to give them some medical education on specific
diseases like hypertension, diabetes and pregnancy. The mgangas
share information with the doctors about patient statistics and
needs, he said.
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SUPERNATURAL SPIRITS
Some healers use herbs. Others use scriptures from the Muslim holy
book, the Koran. Most use both. Belief in supernatural sprits like
djinns features strongly.
Some healers, like Haji Mrisho, mainly give blessings to pregnant
women to prevent their unborn babies being possessed by djinns.
Others, like sheikhs at the Shifaa Herbal clinic, read the Koran to
cast out the djinns blamed for many maladies.
Mwanahija Mzee uses a mix of massages, medicines from roots, herbs
and leaves and Koranic verses, which may be written on a plate in
red food coloring. The plate is then rinsed, and the water ingested
as part of the medicinal regimen.
Some patients like Fatma Hamad say they trust traditional healers
over the overcrowded, underfunded public hospitals where many feel
their ailments are not treated properly.
Fatawi Haji Hafidh, manager at Makunduchi Hospital, the
second-largest government-run hospital on Zanzibar's main island,
says overstretched doctors and nurses may not have the time to see
patients or the diagnostic equipment.
Patients may also be unable to afford the medicine prescribed, or
they may stop taking it before the course is finished, leading them
to relapse and adding to their suspicion of government-run
facilities, he said.
Many simply believe djinns are the problem.
Fatma Hamad took her 2-year-old daughter to hospital after one of
the toddler's legs became paralyzed during a high fever. Unable to
find the problem through X-rays, the hospital recommended she seek
out a traditional healer.
Mwanahija Mzee massages the child and after a few appointments, her
mobility is slowly improving. The mother has taken this as proof
that the illness was caused by possession, “Must be a djinn, as Bi
Mwanhija said," Hamad said.
(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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