In Tanzania’s Zanzibar region, traditional healers are being registered by authorities keen to regulate the practitioners who treat everything from depression to hernias.
About 340 healers have been registered with their tool kits of herbs, holy scriptures and massages, in accordance with the region’s Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act passed 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.I met many patients that went to hospital first and got no help or the medicine didn’t work.
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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.
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.
