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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 9

Publication Date: September 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/assrj.99.12995. Adiko, A. F., N’Goran, K. G., & Koua, K. A. (2022). Perceptions of "Incurable" Diseases and Therapeutic Responses among Traditional

Healers in the District of Abidjan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(9). 46-57.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Perceptions of "Incurable" Diseases and Therapeutic Responses

among Traditional Healers in the District of Abidjan

Adiko Francis Adiko

Centre Ivoirien de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (CIRES)

08 BP 1295 Abidjan 08, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Côte d’Ivoire / Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en

Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS), 01 BP 1303 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

Kouakou Gérard N’Goran

Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement (ISAD)

01 BP V 34 Abidjan 01, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire

Kouakou Adrien Koua

Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement (ISAD)

01 BP V 34 Abidjan 01, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire

ABSTRACT

In Africa and particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, traditional medicine highlights the

consideration of the association between biological, psychological and social

factors within the framework of public health policies. But in reality, it is clear that

there is a neglect of the psychosocial dimension in favor of the biomedical aspects,

even on the part of traditional healers in the management of incurable diseases.

Indeed, traditional medicine seems to be part of a process of reduction to

phytotherapy drugs while ignoring its cultural basis. The question is to know which

posture and which approach appear to be the most appropriate in the evaluation,

prevention and treatment of complex diseases. The objective of this research is to

describe and analyze the perceptions of the causes of so-called "incurable" diseases

and the therapeutic responses proposed by traditional healers. The methodology

was based on documentary research and semi-structured interviews with 30

traditional healers in the district of Abidjan. The results show that the perception

of causes and therapeutic responses are surrounded by complexity. This research

has therefore highlighted the fact that people with an incurable disease are

considered by traditional healers as people in need of psychosocial care. Ultimately,

it should be noted that traditional medicine offers an alternative response to the

management of so-called incurable diseases in the district of Abidjan. These

characteristics of the perception of causes and therapeutic responses are

parameters to be considered in the management of so-called incurable diseases in

African society.

Keywords: Perception, Incurable Diseases, Therapeutic Responses, traditional healers.

INTRODUCTION

According to the WHO, health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and

not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1946). There are therefore two

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Adiko, A. F., N’Goran, K. G., & Koua, K. A. (2022). Perceptions of "Incurable" Diseases and Therapeutic Responses among Traditional Healers in the

District of Abidjan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(9). 46-57.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.99.12995

dimensions of health (biological and psychosocial) in the management of incurable diseases.

Consideration of this dual dimension of health supports how biological, psychological, and

social factors intervene in the assessment, prevention, and treatment of disease (Havelka et al.,

2009, pp. 306-307). The interest of the biopsychosocial approach lies in the valuation of the

relevant determinants of health and disease, which are biological, psychological and social

factors. Because the evaluations of these characteristics during life courses contribute to a

better understanding of the well-being and health of populations (Harris & McDade, 2018).

In Africa and especially in Côte d’Ivoire, the consideration of the association between biological,

psychological and social factors and health, makes it possible to realize the possibility of

improving the management of increased disability by acting on psychological targets within the

framework of public policies. It is highlighted by traditional medicine in African health (Ataudo,

1985; Naidoo et al., 2017; Okonji et al., 2022). But in the face of facts, one could say that there

is here a neglect of the psychosocial dimension which could be perceived as the reduction of

the management of this disease to its biological dimension by the traditional healer. This

approach of the traditional healer thus poses the problem of the management of the disease by

the biomedical world. Indeed, in the biomedical world, the person with a so-called incurable

disease, as a “patient”, has a passive role which is limited to answering the professional's

questions and applying his recommendations". This way of working in the relationship with the

patient does not make it possible to identify the psychosocial dimension of the therapeutic

response. However, we note that the perceptions of traditional healers could reveal the

psychological and social levels of the disease, therefore in addition to the medical intervention

which deals more with the somatic aspect. This work focuses on so-called "incurable" diseases

treated by traditional healers. At the start of this research, it was observed that categories of

so-called incurable diseases in modern medicine are treated in the district of Abidjan by

traditional healers using medicinal plants. Indeed, according to biomedicine, an incurable

disease is a disease that the individual must adapt to live with. By considering this theoretical

approach, we propose to describe and analyze the perceptions of the causes of incurable

diseases and the therapeutic responses that traditional healers offer.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS

Theoretical and conceptual references

To better understand the perceptions of traditional healers, this work calls on the theory of

social representation which includes the fundamental ideas about the world and the rules of

the social structure of the community and gives the religious and moral justification of what is

right or wrong, and they understand (Moscovici, 2000; Wagner, 2012). Supported by

anthropology which gives a "total and encompassing sense par excellence of health as an object

of the contemporary world brought to consider the habits and customs of our time with an

interest equal to that deployed yesterday for the tribes and ethnic groups of the planet, today

exposed to a process of globalization of which the collective quest for health is an essential part”

(Hours, 2001; Murray & Flick, 2002). There are two elements that show how the anthropology

of health can be useful in the analysis of perceptions of incurable diseases (Mino et al., 2008, p.

186). First of all, we note that the anthropology of health is not only an anthropology of illness

or a medical anthropology which examines illness and its representations, it is also, and at the

same time, an anthropology of the health of societies, which is interested in collective health,

public health, health systems” (Hours, 2001, p. 124; Flick, 1998; Fischer et al., 2021; Hours,

2001, p. 126; Murray & Flick, 2002). With regard to the contributions of anthropology, it is now

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 9, September-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

a question of knowing which posture and which approach could be the most appropriate in this

type of analysis. Indeed, public health appears as a crossroads of knowledge and knowledge,

which are located in the field of health and disease and come from other disciplines, while

waiting to constitute themselves into specific knowledge with its concepts, its achievements

theory and its application (Gruénais & Dozon, 1992). From all the above, this work is part of the

social representation theory of (Moscovici, 1969). Indeed, according to this author, social

representation is a form of knowledge, socially developed and shared, having a practical aim

and contributing to the construction of a reality common to a social whole (Jodelet, 1984, pp.

211-238; Jodelet, 1991; Moscovici, 2000). Thus defined, social representation is a construction

that traditional healers make of a reality, an object or a situation. It is a set of opinions, beliefs,

individual or collective information that is shared on the reality or the situation in question. It

is therefore not only a question of proposing remedies for the medical aspect of incurable

diseases. This research therefore focused on the perceptions of incurable diseases treated by

traditional healers in order to know to what extent these traditional healers could limit the

impact of the disease at the biological level or not. It is a question of knowing which posture

and which approach could be the most appropriate in this type of situation. We then sought to

know if these traditional healers considered people with incurable diseases as people in need

of psychosocial care. Thus, in order to circumscribe the perceptions of traditional healers in the

consideration of these two other dimensions of health, this work calls on the concept of

"therapeutic responses", which integrates these bio-psycho-social notions (Harris & McDade,

2018; Havelka et al., 2009). It seems essential to use the concept of "therapeutic responses"

because perceptions have an impact on the management of incurable diseases.

Methodological considerations

This research was carried out in the district of Abidjan which is one of the important health

regions of Côte d'Ivoire. The district of Abidjan abounds the capital of the Ivory Coast. It is a

major socio-cultural and economic crossroads where people from different backgrounds rub

shoulders. It houses all the central health institutions in the country. Abidjan also has three

University Hospital Centers (CHU) responsible for the management of various diseases

considered incurable. This choice aims to capture the importance given to traditional healers

in the management of diseases considered "incurable". The study population is considered to

be traditional healers only. It is made up of thirty (30) traditional healers chosen from among

those who receive and care for individuals with incurable diseases. This work is based on an

essentially qualitative methodology. The choice of this methodological option is explained by

its importance in the assessment of the data to be collected. This methodology is based on two

main techniques, documentary research and semi-structured interviews. To achieve the

objective, two data collection techniques were used, namely the semi-structured interview and

documentary research. With regard to the duration of the interviews, it is indefinite because

each fact encountered can be the subject of an in-depth interview. These interviews took place

in a more or less formal way. After introduction and explanation of the purpose of the interview

to the patient and after the latter has signed the consent form, the interview is approached as a

conversation or discussion. This kind of interview within the framework of this work allowed

to collect richer data because the patient does not have the impression to be interrogated but

to converse with someone while he is active. At the end of the interviews, the content analysis

methods made it possible to analyze the data. The interpretation of the results mobilized

systemic and dialectical analysis.