Research Symposium

BIO

Sasha is a Junior in the FSU honors program majoring in Biology and French with minors in Chemistry and Anthropology. Her research interests are francophone Africa, medical pluralism in Africa, and HIV molecular virology. She enjoys playing various musical instruments, cooking, language learning, and traveling the world.

Medical Pluralism and Trust in Healthcare Among the Hadzabe Hunter-Gatherers

Abstract

Objectives: Investigating medical choice shows that cultural, societal and personal experiences influence health-seeking behaviors. Understanding medical mistrust within hunter-gatherers, such as the Hadzabe of Tanzania, is crucial for improving the health outcomes of such groups as their mobile lifestyle provides difficulty in accessing healthcare.

Methods: In our exploratory study, 91 Hadzabe adults across six camps (mean age = 39, 46% female) were surveyed about their trust in traditional healers and biomedical healthcare workers in Tanzania, in addition to preferred treatment modalities.

Results: Most Hadzabe report consulting doctors (74.7%) and traditional healers (56.0%), while 19.8% visit neither. Half (50.6%) report visiting both, indicating a high degree of medical pluralism. Participants showed a low trust in traditional healers (2.37/4) while they showed a high level of trust in healthcare workers (3.58/4). The most common ailment participants visited traditional healers for was bewitchment, (55.0%) while malaria (60.3%) was the most common for doctors.

Conclusion: In our sample, the results indicate that traditional medicine is important, despite low levels of trust. For biomedical healthcare workers, it is important to remain cognisant of medical pluralism among the Hadzabe and demonstrate sensitivity and cultural understanding to continue to uphold trust.

Keywords: Hunter-Gatherer, Medical Pluralism, Hadzabe