Berkley Center

“When we talk about religion, it’s very interesting because it goes with established, historical religions and then supernatural beliefs. It’s one of the constraints that we face in managing some of our patients.”
- Dr. Naa Ashiley Vanderpuye, medical director of the International Health Care Center (IHCC), Haatso, Ghana

My internship with the IHCC and my several months in Ghana have proven this country a deeply religious one. People cling to a strong belief in God and rely on him even when faced with financial crises, eviction, and job loss. “Leave everything to God” is a common phrase that brings them peace.

The IHCC specializes in care for HIV patients. When Ghanaians are diagnosed with HIV, they treat it the same way, believing it is “all in God’s plan.” They believe that through spiritual healing, and “divine intervention,” God will cure them.

Other patients prefer African Indigenous Religions to traditional Western ones. These religions believe in super natural powers, fetishes, and cults. People believe that herbal remedies and potions made of various animal parts and plants can cure HIV and other presiding ailments.

While there are differences in the traditional and indigenous religions of Ghana, both groups present difficulties when treating HIV. For instance, an HIV positive woman came in to the IHCC for follow up visits while her husband defaulted. When Dr. Naa asked the woman about her husband’s absence, she explained that their family had taken him to their village. He had a swollen leg that they believed was caused by a spiritual power.

One morning she found a small animal inside one of their water collection pots. When her husband went to see what was lurking inside the pot, he swiftly kicked away the creature inside. The family believed that this action angered the spirits who consequently caused his leg to swell. While the wife knew that the swelling wasn’t directly linked to HIV, she sought the advice of a spiritual healer to cure her husband’s bad karma.

Health and religion are uniquely connected in Ghana. When an HIV patient begins treatment, he is considered lucky if he starts to improve right away. Sometimes, the medication has negative side effects like nausea, headaches, and body pains that deter patients from continuing their antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. “At some point patients say the orthodox medicine isn’t working so they disappear. They tell us they don’t believe in modern medicine and wind up dying,” says Dr. Naa.

Pastors commonly preach that they have a cure for HIV. There are ever-present signs for church events and conferences focused on faith based healing and deliverance from evil. They advertise HIV as a spiritual disease that only faith can cure. The pastors tell people that prayer will save them over medication. Some people stop, some fast, and the church leaders perform “healing” rituals for them.

Soon after they come to the IHCC asking to be tested again wanting to know if they’re still positive. “Of course they are,” says Dr. Naa. Belief in God is so strong that people believe God will relieve them of illness. Dr. Naa notes, “I never try to discourage them, but insist they have to do it with their medications,” Dr. Naa is a proponent in the ability of psychological strength. Unwavering belief in God can help improve patients’ conditions, but not without medication.

Unfortunately, many choose only spiritual healing because they hear rumors of people who were treated by their pastors with holy water and afterwards produced a negative test result. “I’m open to the idea that spirituality can heal if it can be proven,” says Dr. Naa. But it has yet to show any concrete evidence.

Traditional medicine is the same way; healers claim to have a cure and produce their own concoctions. These healers claim to have a vision on how to prepare such a concoction, but refuse to explain what it is composed of or disclose whom they have cured. Dr. Naa asks her patients to supply proof of the spiritual healing of others who have been “cured,” which they often fail to provide. Still, she accepts their beliefs as long as they do not default on their medication.

Religion presents a double-edged sword to health in Ghana. While health care workers recognize the healing power of faith and its ability to strengthen the body, they must also deter patients’ beliefs that they will get better based on prayer, herbal remedies, and spirituality alone. When pastors and traditional medicine specialists emphasize prayer and herbal remedies over ARV treatment, it undermines the medical system. Medical personnel must develop tactics to incorporate spiritual belief into modern treatment in order to effectively cater to the needs of religious individuals.