Understanding healthcare seeking and utilization of members of discordant couples can help in implementing effective HIV treatment, care, and support. We conducted a qualitative study comprised of in-depth interviews (n = 26) and ten focus group discussions (n = 73) with community members including opinion leaders, healthcare workers, and members of discordant couples. A portion of the latter group had been participants in the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052 study. Themes that emerged from the data were pragmatism and the realities of hospital care, quest for a cure through traditional medicine, and religious dogma. Medical pluralism is practiced by members of discordant couples seeking HIV care through intersections of hospital facility services and traditional and religious therapeutic options. It would be prudent for healthcare policy makers and conventional medical providers to recognize the importance of traditional medicine and religion in the lives of members of HIV discordant couples and make efforts to integrate the positive concepts of both into the couples’ overall health plan.
BatisaiK.Towards an integrated approach to health and medicine in Africa. Sahara J2016;
13: 113–122.
2.
LeslieC.Medical pluralism in world perspective. Soc Sci Med Med Anthropol1980;
14B: 191–195.
3.
ParkinD.Medical crises and therapeutic talk. Anthropol Med2013;
20: 124–141.
4.
O'BrienSBroomA.HIV in (and out of) the clinic: biomedicine, traditional medicine and spiritual healing in Harare. Sahara J2014;
11: 94–104.
5.
TruterI.Traditional healers: cultural and religious beliefs intertwined in a holistic way. SA Pharmaceut J2007; 74: 56–60.
6.
ZumaTWightDRochatT, et al.
The role of traditional health practitioners in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: generic or mode specific?BMC Complement Altern Med2016;
16: 304.
7.
GurmuATeniFSTadesseWT.Pattern of traditional medicine utilization among HIV/AIDS patients on antiretroviral therapy at a university hospital in Northwestern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med2017; 1724581.
8.
Appelbaum BelisleHHenninkMOrdonezCE, et al.
Concurrent use of traditional medicine and ART: perspectives of patients, providers and traditional healers in Durban, South Africa. Global Public Health2015;
10: 71–87.
9.
KairaniaRGrayRHKiwanukaN, et al.
Disclosure of HIV results among discordant couples in Rakai, Uganda: a facilitated couple counselling approach. AIDS Care2010;
22: 1041–1051.
10.
Borgdorf MW, Kwaro D, Obor D, et al. Reduction of HIV incidence in western Kenya during scale-up of antiretroviral therapy and voluntary medical male circumcision, a population-based cohort analysis. Lancet HIV 2018; 5: e241–e249.
11.
PuckreeTMkhizeMMgobhoziZ, et al.
African traditional healers: what health care professionals need to know. Int J Rehabil Res2002;
25: 247–251.
12.
OmonzejelePF.African concepts of health, disease, and treatment: an ethical inquiry. Explore (NY)2008;
4: 120–126.
13.
PillayBJ.A model of help-seeking behaviour for urban blacks. S Afr Tydskr Sielk1996;
26: 4–9.
14.
CohenCRGrossmanDOnonoM, et al.
Integration of family planning services into HIV care clinics: results one year after a cluster randomized controlled trial in Kenya. PloS One2017;
12: e0172992.
15.
HolzemerWLHumanSArudoJ, et al.
Exploring HIV stigma and quality of life for persons living with HIV infection. J Assoc Nurses in AIDS Care2009;
20: 161–168.
16.
StewardWTHerekGMRamakrishnaJ, et al.
HIV-related stigma: adapting a theoretical framework for use in India. Soc Sci Med2008;
67: 1225–1235.
17.
NolteEM, M.Caring for people with chronic conditions: an introduction McGraw-Hill house.
Berkshire, England:
Open University Press, 2008, pp.1–14.
18.
MoshabelaMPronykPWilliamsN, et al.
Patterns and implications of medical pluralism among HIV/AIDS patients in rural South Africa. AIDS Behav2011;
15: 842–852.
19.
MoshabelaMBukenyaDDarongG, et al.
Traditional healers, faith healers and medical practitioners: the contribution of medical pluralism to bottlenecks along the cascade of care for HIV/AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa. Sex Transm Infect2017;
93: pii: e052974.
20.
AshforthA.Muthi, medicine and witchcraft: regulating “African science” in post-apartheid South Africa. Social Dyn2005; 31: 211–242.
MbitiJS.Concepts of god in Africa. 2nd ed.
Nairobi:
Acton Publishers, 2012.
23.
AdogameA.HIV/AIDS support and African pentecostalism: the case of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). J Health Psychol2007;
12: 475–484.
24.
WhiteP.The concept of diseases and health care in African traditional religion in Ghana.HTS Teologiese Stud/Theological Studies2015;
71:7. Art.#2762.
25.
LorenzKAHaysRDShapiroMF, et al.
Religiousness and spirituality among HIV-infected Americans. J Palliat Med2005;
8: 774–781.
26.
SzaflarskiM.Spirituality and religion among HIV-infected individuals. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep2013;
10: 324–332.
27.
MedvedK.Are religion and spirituality barriers or facilitators to treatment for HIV: a systematic review of the literature. AIDS Care2017; 29: 1–13.
28.
LorencARobinsonN.A review of the use of complementary and alternative medicine and HIV: issues for patient care. AIDS Patient Care and STDs2013;
27: 503–510.
29.
PuoaneTRHughesGDUwimanaJ, et al.
Why HIV positive patients on antiretroviral treatment and/or cotrimoxazole prophylaxis use traditional medicine: perceptions of health workers, traditional healers and patients: a study in two provinces of South Africa. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med2012;
9: 495–502.
30.
Langlois-KlassenDKippWRubaaleT.Who's talking? Communication between health providers and HIV-infected adults related to herbal medicine for AIDS treatment in western Uganda. Soc Sci Med2008;
67: 165–176.
CampbellCSkovdalMGibbsA.Creating social spaces to tackle AIDS-related stigma: reviewing the role of church groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS Behav2011;
15: 1204–1219.
