KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND WILLINGNESS OF TRADITIONAL HEALERS TOWARDS DISEASE SURVEILLANCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SELECTED NOTIFIABLE DISEASES IN IBADAN METROPOLIS

Abstract

Background: Traditional healers remain the first point of contact despite the widespread of orthodox treatment. However, these traditional healers have not been officially assigned any role in disease surveillance and reporting in Nigeria. Incorporating them in surveillance system is expected to improve the reporting of epidemic diseases. Knowledge of the characteristics of the traditional healers would be useful incorporating them into a formal surveillance system, This study was therefore aimed at; assessing the awareness of traditional healers about disease notification and reporting, assessing the attitude of traditional healers towards disease notification and reporting, assess their knowledge about the symptoms and signs of selected notifiable diseases and determine the willingness of traditional healers to report these notifiable diseases. Methods: A cross-sectional study with one hundred and thirty-seven respondents selected by snowball sampling method with nine in-depth interviews were done. Informed consents were sought from participants before they were interviewed. Results: Majority of the respondents were married [123, (89.8%)] with more male respondents [99, (72.3%)], herbal therapist [90, (65.7%)] constituted majority of the respondents. Only a quarter of the respondents [40, (29.2%)] have heard about disease reporting. Of the quarter who knew [40, (29.2%)], over half [26 (65.0%)] knew what disease reporting is. Eighty-four percent (115) do not know where to report. Ebola virus disease [41 (42.3%)] and Lassa fever [48 (39.2%)] were the two most identified notifiable diseases by the traditional healers. Only about ten percent [14, (10%)] of the respondents have ever reported any disease and half of them reported Cholera [7, (50%)]. Over half of the respondents [89, (65%)] had good attitude towards reporting notifiable diseases. Furthermore, [76.5% (105)] believed that the traditional healers do have a role in the practice of bringing the occurrence of these diseases to the attention of the government. Majority of the respondents [123 (89.8%)] were highly willing to report notifiable diseases. 85.4% (117) had poor knowledge of the signs and symptoms of selected notifiable diseases. Diarrhea with blood (Shigellosis) was the most recognized of the notifiable diseases [120 (87.6%)] with more half of them [64 (53.3%)] having good knowledge of the signs and symptoms. Conclusion: Poor level of awareness, poor knowledge of the disease notification and lack of adequate knowledge of signs and symptoms of notifiable diseases were found among the traditional healers. Most of the respondent showed good attitude to reporting and were willing to work with government workers if they are trained. A good awareness campaign should be put in place with adequate training for the traditional healers and a good reward system to properly motivate them are recommended.