The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
TRADITIONAL healers, midwives, herbalists and faith healers, who operate under the auspices of the Zimbabwe National Practitioners Association (ZINPA), will on December 17 converge in Harare to reflect on this year’s high and lows.
Bishop Cuthbert Nyaruvenda, the ZINPA president, said the purpose of the meeting is to take stock of the association’s activities.
“We are going to discuss what we achieved and also failed to achieve this year. We are also going to craft the way forward as a new year beckons,” Bishop Nyaruvenda said.
The association has also invited medical practitioners, who will be administering Covid-19 vaccine doses to the local community.
“Covid-19 is still with us, and we are not going to rest on our laurels until the threat that is posed by the coronavirus becomes a thing of the past,” added Bishop Nyaruvenda.
Gogo Chihoro (born Memory Madamburi), a Harare-based traditional healer said the meeting
“Traditional and faith healers play an important role in the fight against diseases. We live within communities, and we are one of the first people to know if a disease surfaces,” Gogo Chihoro said.
Some traditional and faith healers who are attending to their patients without wearing masks and observing social distancing rules, have been accused of fuelling the spread Covid-19.
Since the beginning of the year, ZINPA has increased efforts in its fight against gender-based violence, child marriages and ritual killings.
In May, members of the association gathered in Ruwangwe, Nyanga where they engaged the local community to try to end ritual killings that were increasing in the area.
In September, ZINPA conducted a workshop in Harare where members discussed ritual killings and child marriages.
The workshop was part of an on-going awareness campaign to curb child marriages and ritual killings.
