Bridging perspectives: The value of collaboration between Traditional Healing Practitioners and Medical Doctors in dementia research and care in South Africa

Abstract

The majority of people in South Africa engage with Traditional Healing Practitioners (THPs) as part of their healthcare, yet THPs remain largely excluded from dementia research and policy. Barriers to collaboration between THPs and Medical Doctors (MDs) include historical marginalization, mutual distrust, fragmented care pathways, and language differences. Integrating THPs and MDs through structured engagement, bidirectional knowledge exchange, and ethical collaboration could enhance dementia care. Shifting away from the binary opposition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and biomedical approaches toward a more integrated and collaborative model of dementia care could lead to more equitable and effective healthcare. The FUNDISA (Framework for Understanding Neurocognitive Disorders via Indigenous Systems in South Africa) project aims to understand how dementia is conceptualized by THPs and foster collaboration between THPs and MDs to support effective dementia care.