Availability and proximity
In many developing countries, traditional practitioners far outnumber doctors practising
modern medicine, the latter being distributed very unevenly and mainly concentrated in cities.
In Africa there may be one traditional practitioner for as few as 200 inhabitants, whereas
some areas have only one doctor for 50,000 inhabitants. In other parts of the world, this
difference might be smaller but nonetheless significant. The ready availability of herbal
preparations in rural areas also suggests this
type of treatment for many illnesses. Because
of the availability of traditional practitioners and the scarcity of doctors, the former are the de
facto primary care providers, especially in rural areas.
The social and geographical proximity of traditional practitioners is one reason why they are
chosen as intermediaries to supervise local programmes that combine both the concepts and the practice of modern medicine. I
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