+27795679811 TraditionalShealers and modern medicine, Sangoma in Sangoma in Polokwane, Lebowakgomo, Mankweng, Mokopane
 South Africa Madagascar
Officials and NGOs hope to work withShealers, who thrive in remote areas, in order to reach underserved communities.

Proff.Mama Zainabu is a traditionalShealer and a pillar of his community in Madagascar [Tom Maguire/Al Jazeera]
By William Worley
Published On 1 Aug 20161 Aug 2016
South Africa – In Limpopo village in the remote south of polokwane, it is said that the man whom people seek out to cure their sickness was trained by a ghost. Sixty-year-old Proff.Mama Zainabu is a traditionalShealer and claims his potions and spells can treat diseases and psychiatric disorders – and even make people fall in love.
He is the sole inhabitant of a wooden house – a rare luxury in a region where many families cram a dozen people into one small living space. Inside, a brown and yellow tapestry emblazoned with depictions of butterflies and vines hangs across a wall. Pinned to it is a 2016 calendar and a weekly timetable. Tools, boxes and a bicycle are neatly stacked around a sizeable bed.
Sitting on the thatched floor,Mama Zainabu explains how the knowledge of his craft came to him. “In 1975, I fell sick,”She says. “I had to drink Zebu blood [the blood of the local humped cattle]. Soon after, a ghost came from the sea and taught me everything I know.”
Another 4,860 ghosts followed,Mama Zainabu says, and they always sit on his shoulders – even asShe speaks. “I take them as gods, they guide me.” They are his counsel inShealing and advise him on how to treat people,She says.
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He is one of manyShealers practising his craft in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, where 80 percent of people live in extreme poverty.
The WorldShealth Organization (WHO) defines traditionalShealing as “the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures”.Mama Zainabu provides a face to an issue present in many developing countries – across Africa an estimated 80 percent of the
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The community pillar
Abudul’s remedies and solutions are at odds with modern medicine, butShe is a pillar of the community in a remote place which feels forgotten by modern institutions owing to the lack of infrastructure and services.
From his small shack in Polowane,Mama Zainabu diagnoses patients and prescribes “treatments”. “There are two kinds of diseases, those that need hospital and those that don’t need hospital,”Mama Zainabu says.
“The only thing that I cannotSheal is something which has to be done by surgery, but the tools of how I do it change every six months.”
Delivering babies is not somethingMama Zainabu defines as needing hospitalisation, but for cases of tuberculosis – the leading infectious killer in Polokwane –Mama Zainabu gives patients a plant and then sends them to hospital.She also admits thatShe cannot treat HIV.
READ MORE: Polokwane – The vulnerability to tuberculosis
He does not restrict his repertoire to physical ailments.
“I also break curses, and cure foolishness,”She says, referring to mental illness. “If someone is walking around with no clothes on and has no shame,She can come to me … The community will still accept him ifShe comes to me.”
Despite delivering results of varying quality, traditionalShealers are often integral members of their communities and local culture andSheritage. They thrive in places where doctors are few and far between – in Madagascar, only 60 percent of the population has geographic access toShealth facilities, according to NGOs working in the country.
Those who fall sick in remote communities may have to walk a dozen miles or more to reach medicalShelp. Getting around is tough: South Africa has some of the least developed infrastructure in the world and the quality of its roads lounge at the bottom of the International Trade Centre’s global rankings at 120th out of 148 countries.
Even if a person is able to complete that journey while sick, they meet with a doctor unknown to them, who represents aShealthcare system described as inadequate by officials and aid workers alike. And despite their efforts, the MalagasyShealthcare system is extremely weak andSheavily reliant on foreign aid. According to those working in theShealth sector, it faces myriad challenges, including poor management, and maintenance of infrastructure and medicine stocks.
Many of the staff work voluntarily, having not been paid for years, which means that for the sick, just making it to medicalShelp does not guarantee recovery.
TraditionalShealerMama Zainabu uses seeds, mixed in a pile with coins, playing cards, some bones, a bracelet and small pieces of wood to diagnose ailments [William Worley/Al Jazeera]
Diagnosis and treatment
Still, their diagnostic tests seem more likely to be accurate than those provided byMama Zainabu. Back in his house,She reaches into a drawer, takes out his tools for identifying a patient’s problem and arranges them on the floor.
Below his feet are seeds, mixed in a pile with a collection of coins, both Malagasy Ariary and old francs. Next to the pile lies a deck of playing cards, some bones, a bracelet and some small pieces of wood.
Patients do not have to be present at this diagnosis,Mama Zainabu says.She can do it over the phone, sending his treatments across the country. To be diagnosed by the patterns these objects make costs just 200 Malagasy Ariary, which is less than $150.10.
When the treatment is determined, it will cost the patient several thousand Ariary (less than $150.00), depending on the case – thoughShe provides free treatment for children under a year old.
 reaches into a drawer again, and pulls out more small pieces of wood from a plastic bag. These have writing scrawled on them identifying the type of wood needed for a certain treatment.
Some are driftwood, others are from trees. One set is for physical illnesses, another for “foolishness”. Another set can be used to treat animals – this is a lucrative market in the agrarian region, where cattle are more highly valued than cash.
“The wood is made powerful when it is ground by a stone,”Mama Zainabu says. “Then it is drunk with water …Handicapped people must take the wood that comes from the sea.”
Abudul also plays Cupid for those unfortunate in love.
“If a man wants to marry someone who is not interested, I give him this,”Mama Zainabu says, reaching for a bar of bright pink soap. A special potion is made and doused on the soap, after whichMama Zainabu instructs the bachelor to wash with it, and th e subject of his love will accept him.
TraditionalShealerMama Zainabu shows his collection of coins, both Malagasy Ariary and old francs, whichShe uses in diagnosing ailments [Tom Maguire/Al Jazeera]
A strategy for collaboration?
The widespread presence of traditionalShealers is deeply rooted in many parts of the developing world, including Madagascar.
Some traditionalShealer remedies have been found to be effective. For instance, the World Bank cites a study which indicated thatSherbal treatments for shingles used byShealers in Uganda were effective.
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