A Talk with Umar Ndiwalana

On Friday, 12 April 2013, our class was lucky enough to have a guest speaker, Umar Ndiwalana. Umar is traditional healer, a role he received as a birthright, from Uganda. He is here in the States furthering his education for the eventual purpose of better serving his home community.

Please read on...



I knew very little about Uganda, so for a clearer perspective of Umar’s culture, I looked up Uganda on the World Health Organization’s website . The country is mostly rural, with only 13% of its 33.4 million people living in urban areas. The average income is $1250 per year, so it is classified as a lower middle-income nation. The BBC reports that in the ‘70s and ‘80s Ugandan citizens suffered egregious human rights abuses. “During this time up to half a million people were killed in state-sponsored violence (“Uganda Profile”).” Recently the country has established a democracy, though violent vigilante groups still run amok and progress in eradicating them has been slow.

The citizens of Uganda have an average life expectancy at birth of 56 years. HIV is a huge problem, though the country has run a strong campaign to fight against it. In the 1990s as many as 30% of the population had HIV. Today, less than 10% of the population lives with the virus. Still the effort must continue: only 54% of the population with advanced infection receives antiretroviral therapy, and only 50% of pregnant women living with HIV receive antiretrovirals for preventing mother-to-child transmission (“Uganda Statistics”).

For more background information on Uganda, please visit the WHO’s page about Uganda and their statistics summary page.

Umar was born into this country, presumably at the tail-end of the massive political unrest that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the displacement of even more. His family status committed him to be a traditional healer. Traditional healers from his community learn from senior healers; they do not go to school. Umar’s mother, however, defied this taboo and sent him to school.

In school in Uganda, Umar learned how to help his community become healthier. He learned how to administer oral rehydration therapy, and how to teach others about it. He learned a great deal about HIV prevention and treatments. In his community, people are reserved and prefer not to talk about sex in front of others. Empowered from his education, Umar was able to say to them, “You are either going to die, or you talk about sex (Ndiwalana).”

As a traditional healer with additional health care training, Umar focuses a great deal on helping people utilize local flora as medicine. Hops, for example, is used as an anti-anxiety medication, a prolactin analogue, an antibacterial agent, and the list goes on(Hops). In his home district, Umar taught people how to domesticate and care for hops plants so they could have easier access to this simple, multipurpose remedy.

Since Western medicine is very difficult for Ugandans to access, and because of the low percentage of people who receive modern drug therapy for HIV, Umar learned about traditional interventions for HIV. In addition to herbal remedies, nutritional advice, and immune boosters, he provides spiritual and psychosocial support and medical care. 

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs reports that there is insufficient research to suggest that herbal remedies provide anything more than palliative care for people living with HIV ("Alternative Therapies"). This fact underscores the importance of spreading knowledge about and accessing available treatments. With better access to information and medicine,  people with HIV would live better, and less mothers would transmit the virus to their children.


It is notable that Umar wishes to return to his hometown. Too often in developing nations, people will receive a medical education and then practice in places other than their countries of origin. Motivation for relocation may be financial or it may be due to a lack of resources and a subsequent feeling of ineffectiveness. Yet where Umar grew up, he has a rapport. People who are skeptical of immunizations and pills are more apt to consider new treatments if they are offered to them by someone they trust. He understands the culture and social norms better than someone from abroad could.

Umar is excited to finish his education here in the states. His goal is to become a physician assistant. He thinks this will give him the right amount of training and authority to be of maximum service to his community. Though there is little financial incentive waiting for him in his hometown, health care is a calling for him, and he is eager to help people live better, longer, healthier lives. He is an inspiration. I thank him for coming to speak with our class, and I wish him a great deal of success!

Works Cited
“Alternative Therapies.” VA National HIV/AIDS Website. United States Department of Veterans Affairs, 1 October 2012. Web. 14 April 2013.
“Hops.” Find a Vitamin or Supplement. WebMD, 2013. Web. 14 April 2013.
Ndiwalana, Umar. Portland State University, 12 April 2013. Presentation.
“Uganda.” Countries. World Health Organization, 2013. Web. 14 April 2013.
“Uganda Profile.” BBC: News Africa. British Broadcasting Company, 8 August 2012. Web. 14 April 2013.
“Uganda Statistics Summary (2002 - Present).” Global Health Observatory Data Repository. World Health Organization, 2013. Web. 14 April 2013.