A. CONDUCT REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

1. Collect information about projects which have included traditional practitioners as community workers to provide primary health care services.

There is a considerable body of knowledge that describes traditional medicine and the treatment and healing practices of traditional practitioners, but because the concept of primary health care with its focus on prevention of disease and health promotion at the community level has become formalized only within the past decade, there appears to be much less information available on the role of traditional practitioners in promoting health in the community.

2. Analyze this information with regard to the role of traditional practitioners in community health and identify the various roles or functions that these traditional health practitioners have played in communities.

The analysis of roles and functions performed by traditional practitioners was limited to primary health care activities which included health education; promotion of proper nutrition; provision of safe water and sanitation; maternal and child health care (including family planning; immunization against major infectious diseases; prevention and control of endemic diseases; first aid; and provision of essential drugs.

3. Make recommendations based on these findings as to future steps which can be taken to involve traditional practitioners in promoting primary health care for communities.

One objective was to make recommendations based upon the information collected that could suggest how traditional practitioners could promote community health. We anticipated that the results of these projects would show positive effects as well as difficulties and problems.

B. CONDUCT AN EVALUATION STUDY OF PROJECTS USING TRADITIONAL PRACTITIONERS

1. Investigate at least three sites which embody a range of traditional healing training modalities and conduct an evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the training programmes and the impact of the projects on the local communities served.

2. Review the methods and materials used to train the traditional practitioners in these projects and determine which materials, training approaches and strategies have been most effective.

C. DEVELOP TRAINING GUIDELINES, BASED UPON THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY, TO ASSIST OTHER ORGANIZATIONS IN REPLICATING SIMILAR PROJECTS.