Cairn Tibetan Medicine 

HIV/AIDS  Counselling Online Support  Project Design

Cairn Tibetan Medicine Materia Medica, Psychotherapy and Counselling Online, was initiated in December 1999, during the Bouddhanath Stupa Health Anthropology Seminar, which aims were to investigate and support the potential resources for Tibetan Medicine found in the local community, as well as to address from a consensual diagnosis what were the recent epidemiological and health education concerns facing the Tibetan and Nepalese target- community in contemporary Nepal, and the important migration diaspora linked with current crisis in Nepal, India and Tibet (China). 

At this stage, Cairn Network is involved in the feasibility assessment and design of this project, which is intended to respond to Drug- Abuse & HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Counselling in the target-migrant population.

Research  Aims & Rationale

The principal objective of the Research is the creation of an infrastructure to support on-going dialogue between traditional healers and the conventional medical community, thereby enabling emergence of a united front for Training in Counselling and Traditional Healing in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.

The ultimate long-term objective is self-sustainability of the Online Training platform to facilitate exchange of scholars, practicioners, researchers and students for finding affordable and effective alternative anti-HIV therapies from natural products and traditional/alternative medical practices, so as to alleviate the sufferings of people living with the HIV disease, as an adjunct to currently available conventional treatment modalities.

The Online Network will also provide Online Coaching & Counselling, as well as promote a better understanding of traditional healing practices and stimulate constructive alliances between scientists and traditional healers to enhance global capacity, and to ensure quality and affordable healthcare for the target- population.
 

The five methodological components of this Pilot- research  project include :

- (i) under Applied Psychology : all issues linked to Counselling HRD training and behavioural change within Health Promotion,

- (ii) under Development Studies : issues related to social/health policy strengthening,

and :

- (iii) NGOs/PHCs capacity building,

- (iv) under Prospective Health Anthropology: all issues related to Himalayan Traditional Healing R&D Project management, including  Interlinked Qualitative / Quantitative Drug Case-studies & Epidemio Case Reporting System inputs

- (v) in regional strategic planning, as well as in Database Online and e-learning access ICT-/VLE System management.

Counselling & Traditional Healing  Psychotherapy  (R&D)

In terms of Research and Development (R&D) for Culturally Appropriate Health Education, the issues of Health Education and Treatment meant that Cairn/SXC Network had to progressively increase its visibility and credibility at grassroots, survey the resources existing in KTM and the Bauddha strategic -site, while also seeking for autonomy in terms of self-sustainable initiatives. Indeed, survival of strategic decision-making and project management at local level seldom fits with being busy drafting numerous projects to local donors, which redtapes, jargons, heavy paperwork and lobbying led Nepal Development Aid to what it is today. In short, some balance must prevail. Short- term budget hardly answers the vision of a long-term intervention, thereupon...

Persons with AIDS are seeking many different treatments, some using plant products, with the hope of obtaining either a cure or relief of symptoms. There is scientific evidence based on in vitro studies that some medicinal plants do in fact have inhibitory effects on HIV. A consultation on in vitro screening of traditional medicines for anti-HIV activity held in Geneva from 6 to 8 February 1989 offered promise that scientifically valid collaborative studies of traditional medicines, particularly medicinal plants, might lead to effective and affordable therapeutic agents.

Natural products can be selected for biological screening based on ethnomedical use, random collection or a chemotaxonomic approach (i.e., screening of species of the same botanical family for similar compounds), but the follow-up and selection of plants based on literature leads would seem to be the most cost-effective way of identifying plants with anti-HIV activity. No single in vitro screening methodology for anti-HIV activity is ideal and confirmatory assays in multiple systems are needed to examine completely the potential use of a compound.
 

There can be found in India and Nepal some anecdotal comments from Tibetan clinics patients who request more medicines from the clinic to boost their vitality and immune systems, some diagnosed under HIV stress. However, at this day of writing, we have no clear evidence that the medicine specifically helps HIV or AIDS patients. Generally, such natural medication does provide more energy balance and body&mind well-being, as well as has no side effects known, as a general comment. However, Tibetan physicians will tend to avoid abusive generalisation and diagnose the person on a case-to-case basis, because related HIV diseases often may come first from potential dysfunctionment that already are in the body.

Himalayan Traditional Medicine has maintained its popularity in the strategic target-sites here considered, as well as in most regions of the developing world, and its use is rapidly spreading in industrialized countries. Report of an Informal WHO Consultation on Traditional Medicine and AIDS: In vitro Screening for Anti-HIV Activities (Geneva, 6-8 February 1989), WHO/GPA/BMR/89.5, WHO Geneva, 1989
 

Some available information recently stressed that Chinese and Tibetan Herbal Medicine has been tested and had since then become very popular in China (Tibet TAR), not only because it was the locally least expensive of all available drugs in situ, but also because it was restoring the immune system function of the body so efficiently that (quoted) "in the majority of patients the CD4 counts were getting back to normal within 1 to 3 months, and a large number of viral secondary infections are cured at the same time". Cairn urges treatment based on personal diagnosis.

While this appears effectively a new way of looking at the treatment of HIV, the medicine itself is only a sophisticated mixture of Traditional Tibetan / Chinese herbs, used to cure immune system deficiencies. The herbal extracts are said to be easily accepted by the body...

Cairn is planning a serie of interactions at personal level with Tibetan Medicine certified Amchis, selected Nepalese Ayurvedic Healers, Chinese Medicine Doctors, HIV/AIDS Counselling Intervenors, Doctors, PHC and THC Workers, scholars and innovative religious or community leaders, working on issues related to Training in Health Education, Prevention, Ethnomedicine of Traditional Healing, HIV-/AIDS Allopathic and related media interest. These consultations (Y2004-05) will be used to disseminate knowledge, create dialogue and build public awareness on the future of Himalayan Traditional Medicine potentials, to develop a protocole for “Best Practices” in HIV/AIDS Counselling and Treatment, as well as transfer of knowledge and tested herbal products to other regions.

This initiative will be include to seek more partnerships with other NGOs and Donors, such as the WHO and EC-,  and will involve collaborations with a variety of grassroots organizations and local people living with HIV/AIDS, so as to increase awareness and improve public health programs and policies.

Needs  Diagnosis

The size of the HIV problem in the target- Tibetan/nepalese migrant population is unknown because there has been no systematic surveillance to date. However, we do know that many of the risk factors for an epidemic are present, moreover since the recent dramatic increase of Maoist insurgency refugees migration to Tibet (TAR China, India and Arabian countries, as well as the regional increasing of transborder tradelinks, from which one may forecast that the window of opportunity during which preventive actions could have been most benefit is rapidly closing.

As a  Counselling  & Traditional Healing  Psychotherapy  Curriculum Development focused initiative,  it completes the earlier  human resource development (HRD) EC- projects in the field of infectious disease control. These include training and exchange of students, collaborative training research protocols’, updating documentation and upgrading the system design. The aim is that in three years the Asian partners will operate as a Traditional Medicine Materia Medica, Philosophy and Psychotherapy Training Centre of Excellence. The established network will be capable of leading and stimulating regional activities in order to produce evidence to address the emerging needs and to translate the training into practices.

Action-  Research

Cairn Action Research for Traditional Health Counselling Training and capacity building emphasizes:

• Training as Online Center in HIV/AIDS Counselling & Traditional Healing R&D Programme.
• Training in NGOs capacity-building in Nepal and South Asia LCDs.
• Networking of Technical Resources on Traditional Health Psychotherapy & Counselling.
• Training in ICT-/VLE e-learning cum Dbase Systems (ECDL)
• Training Online for paraprofessionals, health educators, students and researchers in counselling and cross-cultural research.

Training  Result

At the end of the training, Cairn expects that the participants will:

• Be able to analyze psycho-social, ethical, legal and human rights aspect of HIV and AIDS from health and development perspectives.
• Develop skills in related counselling and interventions for prevention and care at all levels.
• Develop skills in research, advocacy, management and training at various levels, including :

  - to proceed with HIV counselling and testing services in both public and private sectors.  

  - to proceed with systemic, structural, resource and policy analysis of enabling or disabling factors for HIV/AIDS and related HRB.

  - to proceed with assessing the role of non-governmental (NGOs) and community based organisations in the national HIV/AIDS strategy and service delivery. 

  - to proceed with Qualitative Case-studies and Epidemiology Case Reporting Systems.

  - to network and work with selected/relevant Traditional Health practicioners & services.

Tibetan Medicine Introduction Tour&Studies

Level 1- is a 30 days long Cultural Immersion Tour & Introduction to Tibetan Medicine, 
(for  details on options, click here on : Tibetan Medicine Introduction Tours&Field-studies,

Level 2- is a three-months indepth training cum field-research into either Tibetan Medecine,
Philosophy or Psychology, this last option including Dzog-Chen, Tsa-rLung, Tantras
and other inputs relevant to professional psychotherapy training,
(see other links for details, hereunder)

Level 3- is a four-year long Postgraduate and/or  Doctorate Thesis (Option ECTS/ECDL),
divided into 3 distincted postgraduate modules, between 1 to 2 years each.
(see this link for more details at : http://cairn-healing-online.tripod.com/boddha.html)
 

Cairn  Policy

Cairn  policy is to collaborate with selected local Primary Health Care, Traditional Health Care, Tibetan Medicine Centers, Social/Health Intervenors, recognized Ayurvedic Healers, Researchers and Scholars, within the mainstream of WHO and Nepal Public Health Policy, so as to conduct an evaluation for an envisioned TOT model program, and plan a further expansion to include public health education and the integration of Tibetan and other traditional medicine with western medicine.

Cairn/SXC first aim is and remains nonetheless to be an autonomous and dynamic independent entity, based first on local resources for continuing the projects and vision started during the 1999 Seminar. Daily collaboration with local Traditional Health Care Centers and Primary Health Care Workers, including the SXSSC Drug- Abuse Rehabilitation and Detoxification Center (Fr. W. Robins & Rajendra Shrestha) and with selected Amchis or Lamas involved in Tibetan Traditional Healing & Tsa-rLung Psychotherapy grassroots activities, are the substance of Cairn philosophy. 
 

Cairn believes that Tibetan Traditional Medicine not only retains a huge capacity to address a wide variety of health, psychosomatic and rejuvenation problems, but also represents an important pool of still untap resources in the joint-areas of Spiritual practices, Rejuvenation and Arts&Therapy.

Since the early 1980's cross-cultural research in Transpersonal Psychology (ITAS-ATB: Tarab Tulku), Cairn has focused its R&D on the utilization of Tibetan Philosophy Tantras and Tsa-rLung Rejuvenation Healing technics as one of the more enlighted potentials contained in the social fabric and cultural heritage of the Himalayan region. 

Lately, Cairn Consortium decided to contribute to the revitalization of the Tibetan Medicine Dbase Research System through a pilot-projet focused on Drug-Abuse and/or HIV/AIDS health education, treatment and counselling. From an initial networking with selected PHC and  amchi health centres and the improvement of access to medicinal raw materials to disadvantaged target-groups, the programme is currently engaged in training research, which aims to directly address the problem of remedials to the pressing health, social and spiritual issues facing the Himalayan/Tibetan medical system. This accordingly studies the Materia Medica, Philosophy and Tantras Yogas, as well as the belief and attitudinal social dynamics of the target-groups and society.
 

It goes without saying, that from those activities, a core of precious opportunities  surface for European/Western scholars, researchers, students and eventual people seeking for relevant Tibetan Medicine related resources and/or help...
 

Cairn  International  Studies will improve European students' ability to work in an increasingly globalized environment in Nepal and surrounding Asia. The goal is to prepare European students and trainees for focused international tasks, promote interactive and communicative skills and encourage an open and receptive attitude towards the Himalayan region ethnic cultures. Cairn Euro-Asian Network will further increase opportunities for internships, field-research and online studies within an international dimension and with selected international experts cooperation. 
 

Cairn Cross-Cultural Awareness program stresses that for an Euro-Asian cross-cultural training to be effective as an enhancement for an international development organization, it must deal with several complexities in the learning process, including that of providing flexible options for genuine Projects-based Cultural Immersion. Just providing information, or some online courses, is not an effective approach for the future Euro-Asian relations, beyond that of a basic introductory level. 

Cairn believes that such training should be an interactive intercultural process, through the use of flexible training modules being a menu of Cultural Immersion Options organized in strategic target-sites, where the behavioral situation, case studies, scenarios, critical incidents, catharsis and crisis resolution, will bring to participants and beneficiaries focused and longterm results. 
 

Cairn is also launching a stepwise development of a Mixed Mode Postgraduates and Masters ECDL/ECTS Certification centered around disciplines initiated from the EU partners units and linked with the pressing issues of Nepal/Asian LDCs Development Management. This unique mode of study allows students the flexibility to study through a combination of residential home courses in the EU, field-study in Asia, group sessions and flexible distance learning.  The recommended pattern of study starting in 2004/2005 is currently under-design, for the following options.