Traditional healers use of personal protective equipment: a qualitative study in rural South Africa.

Traditional healers are frequently exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through the widespread practice of traditional "injections", in which the healer performs dozens of subcutaneous incisions using a razor blade to rub herbs directly into bloodied tissue. An average healer in Agincourt, a rural northeastern sub-district in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, experiences approximately 1500 occupational blood exposures over the course of their lifetime. Healers in Agincourt have an HIV prevalence of 30% compared to 19% in the general population, and healers who report exposure to patient blood have an adjusted 2.4-fold higher odds of being HIV-positive than those with no exposure. Although research on appropriate PPE use has been well documented for allopathic care providers, little is known about the practices of traditional healers.