Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

dc.contributor.authorWreford, Joanne
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-16T09:59:06Z
dc.date.available2016-05-16T09:59:06Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.updated2016-05-16T09:57:56Z
dc.description.abstractThis paper examines some often repeated 'medical myths' about Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) in South Africa, in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Narratives have served many purposes in the pandemic: the stories included here provide specific commentary, often implicitly derogatory or critical, on the role of THPs. The anecdotes can be seen to reflect the uneasy interaction generally prevailing between the traditional and biomedical paradigms in South Africa. The paper first examines some of the reasons for the biomedical presumptions that underlie these narratives. It argues that in attributing blame, the stories exert an unhelpful effect and undermine confidence in the possibility of collaborative medical efforts against HIV and AIDS. In contrast, the paper utilises field evidence to suggest that, given mutual respect, THPs can be successfully drawn into biomedical prevention and treatment interventions, and thereby improve their efficacy.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationWreford, J. (2008). <i>Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19665en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationWreford, Joanne <i>Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR), 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19665en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationWreford, J. (2008). Shaming and blaming: medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Cape Town: Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Townen_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Wreford, Joanne AB - This paper examines some often repeated 'medical myths' about Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) in South Africa, in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Narratives have served many purposes in the pandemic: the stories included here provide specific commentary, often implicitly derogatory or critical, on the role of THPs. The anecdotes can be seen to reflect the uneasy interaction generally prevailing between the traditional and biomedical paradigms in South Africa. The paper first examines some of the reasons for the biomedical presumptions that underlie these narratives. It argues that in attributing blame, the stories exert an unhelpful effect and undermine confidence in the possibility of collaborative medical efforts against HIV and AIDS. In contrast, the paper utilises field evidence to suggest that, given mutual respect, THPs can be successfully drawn into biomedical prevention and treatment interventions, and thereby improve their efficacy. DA - 2008 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Centre for Social Science Research LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2008 T1 - Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa TI - Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19665 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19665
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationWreford J. Shaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa. 2008 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19665en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_ZA
dc.sourceCentre for Social Science Research
dc.source.urihttp://www.cssr.uct.ac.za/
dc.subject.otherHIV/AIDS
dc.subject.otherMedical myths
dc.subject.otherTraditional health practitioners
dc.titleShaming and blaming: Medical myths, traditional health practitioners and HIV/AIDS in South Africa.en_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceResearch paperen_ZA
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