Throwing the bones to diagnose HIV: Views of rural South African traditional healers on undertaking HIV counselling and testing.

In 2018, nearly 800,000 HIV positive individuals in South Africa were unaware of their status. Traditional healers see patients who avoid health clinics, including those who refuse HIV testing. This manuscript details the results of a qualitative study to understand traditional healer perspectives on performing healer-initiated HIV counseling and testing HIV in rural South Africa. We conducted 30 structured in-depth interviews between April and June 2019 to elicit traditional healer attitudes towards partnering with local health services to perform HIV counseling and testing with their patients. Healers reported that while some patients are open about their HIV status, others lie about it due to stigma. This creates challenges with concurrent treatment, which healers believe leads to allopathic and/or traditional medication treatment failure. Most healers expressed both an interest and a willingness to perform HIV counseling and testing. Healers felt that by performing testing in the community, it would overcome issues related to HIV stigma, as well as a lack of confidentiality and trust with health care workers at the clinic. Trained traditional healers may be able to bridge the testing gap between "non-testers" and the allopathic health system, essentially "opening" thousands of new testing locations with little financial investment.

The Impact of Functional Dependence and Related Surgical Complications on Postoperative Mortality.

PURPOSE: Functional dependency is a known determinant of surgical risk. To enhance our understanding of the relationship between dependency and adverse surgical outcomes, we studied how postoperative mortality following a surgical complication was impacted by preoperative functional dependency. METHODS: We explored a historical cohort of 6,483,387 surgical patients within the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP). All patients ≥ 18 years old within the ACS-NSQIP from 2007 to 2017 were included. RESULTS: There were 6,222,611 (96.5%) functionally independent, 176,308 (2.7%) partially dependent, and 47,428 (0.7%) totally dependent patients. Within 30 days postoperatively, 57,652 (0.9%) independent, 15,075 (8.6%) partially dependent, and 10,168 (21.4%) totally dependent patients died. After adjusting for confounders, increasing functional dependency was associated with increased odds of mortality (Partially Dependent OR: 1.72, 99% CI: 1.66 to 1.77; Totally Dependent OR: 2.26, 99% CI: 2.15 to 2.37). Dependency also significantly impacted mortality following a complication; however, independent patients usually experienced much stronger increases in the odds of mortality. There were six complications not associated with increased odds of mortality. Model diagnostics show our model was able to distinguish between patients who did and did not suffer 30-day postoperative mortality nearly 96.7% of the time. CONCLUSIONS: Within our cohort, dependent surgical patients had higher rates of comorbidities, complications, and odds of 30-day mortality. Preoperative functional status significantly impacted the level of postoperative mortality following a complication, but independent patients were most affected.

Traditional healers use of personal protective equipment: a qualitative study in rural South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Traditional healers are frequently exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through the widespread practice of traditional "injections", in which the healer performs dozens of subcutaneous incisions using a razor blade to rub herbs directly into bloodied tissue. An average healer in Agincourt, a rural northeastern sub-district in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, experiences approximately 1500 occupational blood exposures over the course of their lifetime. Healers in Agincourt have an HIV prevalence of 30% compared to 19% in the general population, and healers who report exposure to patient blood have an adjusted 2.4-fold higher odds of being HIV-positive than those with no exposure. Although research on appropriate PPE use has been well documented for allopathic care providers, little is known about the practices of traditional healers. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted with 30 traditional healers who practice in the rural Bushbuckridge sub-district of Mpumalanga province, northeastern South Africa. We elicited traditional healer attitudes towards glove use during traditional treatments - including patient baths, injections, or other treatments that exposed healers to patient blood or open sores. RESULTS: While 90% of healers reported using latex gloves during some treatments, the majority do not use them regularly. Most employ a combination of gloves, plastic shopping bags, bread bags, paper, and sticks to prevent blood exposure. Healers reported plastic bags slipping or breaking during procedures, exposing them to patient blood. Only three healers consistently used gloves, regardless of the cost. CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate PPE use and high HIV prevalence make traditional healers particularly susceptible to contracting HIV in rural South Africa. Despite positive attitudes, consistent glove use remains low due to financial constraints and glove availability. Addressing issues of accessibility and cost of gloves for traditional healers could have a significant impact on the adherence to PPE and, in turn, reduce new HIV infections among this high-risk group.