Effects of Modern Healthcare Integration on the Role and Practice of Bukusu Traditional Healers in Bungoma County, Kenya

Traditional medicine remains central to healthcare for the majority of African populations, yet the expansion of biomedical services raises important questions about the place of indigenous healers within increasingly plural health systems. This study examined how the integration of modern healthcare affects the role and practice of Bukusu traditional healers (bamuni) in Bungoma County, Kenya. Guided by modernization theory and symbolic interactionism, the study adopted an ethnographic design and a mixed-methods strategy, drawing on questionnaires administered to medical practitioners and community members, key informant interviews with traditional healers, and focus group discussions, with a total sample of 100 respondents selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were thematically analysed. The findings revealed strong support for integration in principle but weak implementation in practice: 90% of medical practitioners and 89% of community members endorsed collaboration between the two systems, and 90% of community members continued to respect traditional healers, yet only 15% of practitioners had ever referred a patient to a healer and only 25% acknowledged the existence of clear referral guidelines. Mistrust between the systems was reported by 85% of practitioners, and 54% of community members felt government policy did not adequately support traditional medicine. Qualitative findings showed that healers are gaining social recognition through informal collaboration and public-health invitations, but describe this recognition as largely “tokenistic”, unsupported by licences, financing or referral protocols. Healers reported adapting their practice by adopting record-keeping and biomedical terminology while preserving spiritual diagnostic methods, and community members reported sequential and parallel rather than substitutive health-seeking. The study concludes that modern healthcare integration reshapes healer roles through negotiation rather than simple displacement, and recommends a formal policy framework that recognises traditional healers as legitimate partners, with standardised referral systems, joint training and sustained institutional support.