UNESCO TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN PRACTICE Africa

Africa

In Africa, traditional medicine is based on theories that see human beings as inseparable from their

social, natural, spiritual and cosmic environment. A

ccording to this holistic approach, disease is

considered and treated as a phenomenon that arises when an imbalance affects the vital powers

governing the patient’s health; these powers range from

the most powerful deity to the smallest

living organism. To restore harmony, the healer combines local plants and minerals – chosen both

for their medicinal properties and their symbolic and spiritual significance – with ritual actions, and

calls on his or her in-depth knowledge of the patient's kinship and social relations, as well as

common local cosmologies. The diviner and the traditi

onal healer are the key figures in traditional

medicine in Africa. The diviner diagnoses the cause

of an illness if a supernatural intervention is

suspected. Extensive knowledge of the village’s kinship relations, social connections and current

potential conflicts is the main tool in the di

viner’s armoury. The traditional healer chooses and

applies appropriate remedies; this is usually a very powerful person with connections, highly

respected throughout the community, who enjoys a

certain amount of political power deriving

indirectly from the ability to act on disease and on the supernatural powers involved. The traditional

healer’s right and ability to heal are considered to be a gift from God and the ancestors, and this is

often recognized in specific childhood acts. Midwiv

es (sometimes called “matrons” to distinguish

them from the midwifery of Western medicine) and bone healers are also much in demand as

practitioners of traditional medicine in African countries. Given that the vast majority of the African

population uses traditional medicine as the primary, if not the only source of health care, some

countries in the region have been particularly keen to assess its results. Several countries are

currently drafting a legislative and legal fram

ework based on national policies and regulations.

Some countries, for example, have national programmes in place and have adopted the relevant

legislation and regulations. On the other hand, other countries have so far undertaken little, if any,

national-level action.