Community Health Information Centers and
the Traditional Healers in Maasai Land
by Zipporah Wanaswa, Regional Manager
Central/Coast Region
WIRED International-Kenya

Traditional healers form a very important component of the Maasai community. They are not just medicine men and women. They are a group of people from the same community with different skills who are working together.

Traditionally, they are divided into various categories:

• Traditional birth attendants and their helpers
• Traditional circumcisers
• Teeth extractors
• Those who perform tattoos
• Ear piercing specialists
• Traditional medicine men/women (herbalists)

The traditional birth attendants (TBAs) tend to women from the time of conception to the time of childbirth. Their purpose is to ensure that women not only deliver safely but also traditionally, using customary herbs, oils, exercise, and equipment. Initially this group of experts performed their work regardless of the condition of the surrounding environment. They did what they considered the best. With the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the practice without precautions posed danger to clients and the TBAs themselves. The WIRED Center at Isinya, Kajiado approached this group of women to introduce them to the existence of the Center at the Maasai Rural Training Center. The introduction took place at a forum organized by the Maa AIDS Awareness Program and maasai elders (Protocol was followed when organizing the meeting with members of this community, because the elders must approve of what the community is going to be told).

The idea of the Center spread well through the TBA community as some have made it their habit to visit the CHIC every so often. TBAs have also been one of the major target groups for Pack and Go Computer Program at the Kajiado CHIC. The aim of the program has been to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through service delivery to community members. From the information they have learned from the CHICS, the TBAs now:

• Wear gloves when attending to the expectant mothers
• Encourage expectant mothers to provide gloves on each visit
• Use sterilized equipment
• Use clean thread to tie the umbilical cord and tie both ends
• Use clean polythene bags to prevent dirt from getting to the mother and from the mother to the surroundings
• Carry all disposables and used equipments/facilities in the polythene bags and dispose of then in a hygienic manner
• Use new kits for the next client

The TBAs are now informed and educated about HIV/AIDS, nutrition, and childcare and make referrals to hospitals and VCT centers when they cannot handle a case. In the course of their work the TBAs have been able to diagnose STDs like Gonorrhea, Syphilis, and other diseases from the symptoms they have seen on the CD ROMS available at the WiRED Centers.

For the TBAs, buying new kits is not an extra expense when they compare it to the benefits of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS/STDs. Through this initiative, the TBAs have actually become the Maasai Community Owned Resource Persons (CORSPS). They have been able to reach out to their fellow traditional healers. These include the traditional circumcisers, many of which are also TBAs. Though it is difficult for these people to completely discard the tradition of female circumcision, it is evident that they have learned something from the TBAs as well as from direct visits to the CHIC. Now they use sterilized knives to conduct this right of passage. The male traditional circumcisers have also learned similar techniques and most of them implement conventional medical circumcision techniques.

Several years ago tooth extraction became a necessity after an epidemic that affected many members of the Maasai community. The disease was so severe that the affected persons could not open their mouths to eat. An opening into the mouth had to be created, and the only way this could be done was through extraction of the front teeth to let in food. This is how Teeth extractors originally emerged. With time, and the decreasing incidence of disease, teeth extraction eventually became a symbol of beauty and identity of the maasai people. Today these teeth extractors walk from home to home extracting teeth form children and adults who are willing. From the Center, they have learnt to use sterilized knives when extracting teeth.

Tattoos are another form of beauty for community members. Those who perform tattoos have existed for a long time. The same applies to ear piercing specialists. In both cases, knives are used to mutilate the skin and the ears. These specialists have also learned to use sterilized equipment and to ask those who need their services to provide sterilized equipment.

Herbalists have also learned how to use the drug content of herbs to treat ailments more effectively. They also can better identify these ailments.

One might ask how TBAs are able to penetrate all these groups of people given that they are women living in the maasai community. In this community, while women are considered inferior to men, female traditional birth attendants are valued and respected members of the community. Traditional birth attendants are specially selected women who are trained by the elderly women who have been in the profession for quite sometime. An elderly woman is regarded with a lot of respect in this society. Many people in the community, including men, look to the female elders for advice. They can rebuke men when they do wrong. Due to their social position, the TBAs and the female elders have been able to act as CORPS for a good cause, enabling the Center to reach the traditional healers in Maasai land with health information which has directly produced behavior change.

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