AROB promoting use of traditional health practices

PRESERVING and using traditional health practices in collaboration with formal health services is now the number one priority for the Traditional Health Programme on Bougainville.

The Traditional Health Programme (THP) is under the Catholic Diocese of Bougainville and is being funded by and NGO DKA Austria Horizont 3000 and the Regional Member for Bougainville Joe Lera.

The programme has now expanded.

Programme officer McCue Kenos who spoke to Loop PNG yesterday said the programme has already achieved some major goals in traditional health care. With the main aim of complementing formal health programs with improved services.

“First and foremost we have already formed an association called BOUTHA which stands for Bougainville Traditional Health Association,” Kenso said.

“I can say it is the biggest association now in the country with more than 600 members and 16 smaller associations,” he said.

“In March this year we ran a training of trainers and are now doing their practical’s in the west coast area of Kuraio, Torokina and Tinputz here in north Bougainville,” Kenso said.

Kenso said they currently have four staff manning the headquarters in Hahela with two offices and guest room, a medical plant garden a permanent staff house and a traditional staff house all in Hahela.

The Programme’s main objective is to preserve traditional health care knowledge (research, publications), Improve quality and effectiveness of traditional health care practices (training), integrate traditional medicine in primary health care system (Integration in Catholic health services).

“So far we have 46 primary health care trainings, 17 voluntary pregnancy attendants’ trainings in collaboration with local health centers, for emergency purposes only, seven management trainings for association and members two massage and one bonesetter training,” Kenso said.

He said a major achievement was the THP will now be taught in primary schools. He said the Bougainville Education Board has endorsed the programme and text books will now be printed.

“All our research are based academically on data of more than 600 plant species stored in data based traditional medicine in UPNG, and scientific identification is done by the Forestry Research Institute in Lae Morobe Province,” Kenso said.

Author: 
PETERSON TSERAHA