Social interactions within the Sudanese healthcare system: traditional healers and psychiatrists

• Published in: BJPsych international Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 29 - 30
• Main Authors: Altamih, Randa Ahmed Abdalrheem, Elmahi, Osman Kamal Osman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-05-2023
• Subjects: Addictions; African cultural groups; Collaboration; community mental health teams; Healing; Health education; Health services; History of psychiatry; Integrated care; Mental disorders; Mental health care; Mental health services; Patients; Primary care; Psychiatrists; Psychiatry; Psychosis; Rural areas; Rural communities; Social interaction; Sudan; Traditional healers; Traditional medicine; traditional psychiatry; Sudan; traditional psychiatry; primary care; History of psychiatry; community mental health teams; Sudan
• ISSN: 2056-4740; 2058-6264
• DOI: 10.1192/bji.2022.27

From a cultural perspective, traditional healing has had a substantial impact on psychiatric management in rural African communities, but the services provided by traditional healers are not integrated with the mental health services provided by primary healthcare. In Sudan, modern psychiatry has seen minimal development beyond the capital city of Khartoum. In rural communities, traditional health practitioners (THPs) are the first point of entry to mental health services. Effective collaboration between THPs and consultant psychiatrists should be encouraged by the introduction of health education that targets THPs, especially in rural communities. This would facilitate the integration of mental health services into primary healthcare and help achieve universal health coverage for psychiatric disorders in Sudan.