Author Description

Previous collaborative initiatives with traditional healers in Africa have described case studies and outlined their successes and failures. This document illustrates with clearly defined steps how successful collaborative initiatives have accomplished their objectives, and how the lessons learnt can be put to use in initiating new collaborations or expanding on existing ones. Also featured is a model strategy that can be adapted for reaching out to traditional healers, together with the necessary steps for: building trust among traditional healers and biomedical health practitioners; sharing of critical information from both sides; creating mutual support mechanisms; and monitoring and evaluating the successes and failures of each endeavor.