[Collaboration between traditional and modern medicines: prospectives of structuring a combined care system for...

The Italian NGO Terra Nuova (TN) is implementing a project with the aim of promoting collaboration between traditional and conventional medicines within orthopedic traumatology in Mali. The study is supporting the project to formulate rightly the proposal of a joint system of managing traumatology cases. It has the purpose of analysing the ability of the two healthcare systems and identifying the training needs of the respective operators in this field, in order to draw interventions that can improve their therapeutic practice. The research uses quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and is structured in three under-studies. The study points out a great use of the traditional medicine for traumatology cases, a good ability of the traditional care system to manage such cases, even though some aspects need improvements, and a diffused availability of conventional health workers to collaborate with traditional ones, since the former recognise their own incapability in this field. The study suggest that valorizing strengths and emending weakness of both healthcare systems in managing traumatology cases, will allow the TN intervention to structure and test collaboration between the two medicines with effective prospects for public health.