Food shortage in Zimbabwe: Can wild cereal grains be an alternative source of nutrition?

Cereals are used as staple food in most countries all over the world including Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, poor rainfall patterns have hampered the production of traditional cereals like maize and wheat leading to poverty especially in third world countries. Five wild cereal grains namely; Amaranthus hybridus, Brachiaria brizantha, Panicum maximum, Rottiboellea cochinchinensis and Sorghum arundinaceum were studied to determine their nutritional value because of their drought tolerance. Two domesticated cereals were used for comparison. The macro nutrients determined were proteins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals. Amaranthus hybridus, a wild cereal, had the highest protein and fat content of 21.44% and 11.50% respectively, compared to all the other cereal grains.  Brachiaria brizantha had the highest fibre content of 30.34% while the red variety of Sorghum bicolor had the least fibre content of 2.51%. Phosphorus was detected in all the cereal grains studied. Calcium was detected in all the cereal grains except in red variety of Sorghum bicolor. The nutritional composition of the cereal grains makes them potential alternative food sources

Inappropriate use of promethazine and promethazine-containing products in children under the age of three years in Harare, Zimbabwe

A journal article on Inappropriate use of Promethazine and Promethazine-containing products in children under the age of three years in Zimbabwe.In Zimbabwe, promethazine, Stopayne® and Goldgesic® syrups are classified as pharmacy drugs (P) by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ). A pharmacy drug, according to the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act (1991),8 is a medicine that is to be sold only, by a pharmacist, any person under the continuous personal supervision of a pharmacist, from licensed pharmacies or by a wholesale dealer with a valid wholesale dealer's permit. Promethazine, Stopayne® and Goldgesic® syrups are available over-the-counter (OTC), without need for a prescription

A review of the integration of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine into the curriculum of South African medical schools

Background: Traditional, complementary and alternative (TCAM) medicine is consumed by a large majority of the South African population. In the context of increasing overall demand for healthcare this paper investigates the extent to which South African medical schools have incorporated TCAM into their curriculum because of the increased legislative and policy interest in formally incorporating TCAM into the health care system since democracy in 1994. Methods: Heads of School from seven South African medical schools were surveyed telephonically. Results: One school was teaching both Traditional African Medicine (TM) and CAM, five were teaching either TM or CAM and another was not teaching any aspect of TCAM. Conclusions: In conclusion, there is a paucity of curricula which incorporate TCAM. Medical schools have not responded to government policies or the contextual realities by incorporating TCAM into the curriculum for their students. South African medical schools need to review their curricula to increase their students' knowledge of TCAM given the demands of the population and the legislative realities

Inappropiate use of Promethazine and Promethazine-containing products in children under the age of three years in Harare, Zimbabwe

No Abstract

Evaluating traditional healers knowledge and practices related to HIV testing and treatment in South Africa

Background: In a context of inadequate human resources for health, this study investigated whether traditional healers have the knowledge and skill base which could be utilised to assist in the scaling up of HIV prevention and treatment services in South Africa. Methods: Using a cross-sectional research design a total of 186 traditional healers from the Northern Cape province were interviewed. Responses on the following topics were obtained: socio-demographic characteristics; HIV training, experience and practices; and knowledge of HIV transmission, prevention and symptoms. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were used to analyse the responses. Results: Traditional healers' knowledge of HIV and AIDS was not as high as expected. Less than 50% of both trained and untrained traditional healers would treat a person they suspected of being HIV positive. However, a total of 167 (89%) respondents agreed using a condom can prevent HIV and a majority of respondents also agreed that having one sexual partner (127, 68.8%) and abstaining from sex can prevent HIV (145, 78.8%). Knowledge of treatment practices was better with statistically significant results being obtained. Conclusion: The results indicate that traditional healers could be used for prevention as well as referring HIV positive individuals for treatment. Traditional healers were enthusiastic about the possibility of collaborating with bio-medical practitioners in the prevention and care of HIV and AIDS patients. This is significant considering they already service the health needs of a large percentage of the South African population. However, further development of training programmes and materials for them on HIV and AIDS related issues would seem necessary

Integrating African Traditional Health Knowledge and Practices into Health Sciences Curricula in Higher Education: An Imbizo

Traditional health knowledge and practices remain the primary source of health services for most African communities. Despite this, the training of health professionals in South African higher education institutions remains underpinned on paradigms based on Western medicine, adversely perpetuating health disparities and widening the gap between health professionals and African health service users. This research describes the views of African traditional knowledge holders, traditional health practitioners, health sciences academics, and nursing students on how African traditional health knowledge and practices can be integrated into health sciences curricula. In this qualitative study, we purposively selected a panel of experts as participants and collected data via a discussion forum. Ideas that stood out from the discussions include the nature of transformation as starting from within, barriers to the co-existence of African and biomedical health systems, and strategies to facilitate integration. This venture has revealed that the successful integration of African traditional health knowledge and practices into existing nursing curricula will require a concerted effort from all stakeholders in order to transform and recognise the value of African traditional medicine. Lessons learnt from adopting an imbizo approach for discussions include improved collaboration and the levelling of power differentials. We recommend that more studies on decolonisation within the African context adopt this methodology to ascertain and strengthen its viability.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rars202021-05-18hj2020Nursing Scienc