RESEARCH ARTICLE
Perceptions of the Etiology and Treatment of Hypertension Among Some Traditional Healers in Cameroon
Jean Meli1, Benedicta N. Nkeh-Chungag2, *, Jean Gerard Doumtsop Tatou1, John Simo Mope3, Samuel Kingue3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2009Volume: 2
First Page: 39
Last Page: 43
Publisher ID: TOPHJ-2-39
DOI: 10.2174/1874944500902010039
Article History:
Received Date: 09/11/2009Revision Received Date: 04/08/2009
Acceptance Date: 01/09/2009
Electronic publication date: 13/9/2009
Collection year: 2009
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objectives:
To investigate the perceptions of the etiology and treatment of hypertension among a number of traditional healers reputed to treat the disease in Yaoundé.
Methods:
Semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires were administered to 30 selected participants to collect information. Data were collected within the consulting rooms of the traditional caregivers.
Findings:
Most traditional health caregivers thought that hypertension was associated with target organs such as the heart, brain, liver and kidneys. Over 23% of participants used modern equipment to diagnose the disease or sent their patients to western hospitals for diagnoses before recommending treatment. However, close to 5% of our participants used mystical methods to diagnose hypertension in their patients. Importantly, all traditional healers depended on the patients’ testimony or physical appearance to determine treatment success.
Conclusion:
The tools and methods used by many traditional healers to diagnose hypertension are inadequate. Treatment endpoints fail to recognize the need for the long-term management of hypertension.