ABSTRACT:
Traditional medicine and therapeutic techniques have a long history of treating a wide range of human and animal health conditions in Africa. This rich body of knowledge has for a long time been undervalued because of the dominance of Eurocentric mindsets and practices. But current research confirms that many of today’s medicines are derived from tropical African medicinal plants, and that traditional medicine can provide a lead to scientific breakthrough in modern medicine and drug discovery. With colonialism, traditional medicine has been discredited because it does not always appear to conform with the scientific principles of modern medicine, least of all the spiritual and cultural aspects of healing that sometimes involve divination and traditional rituals. Many doctors, scientists and government officials distrust traditional medicine, and hesitate to provide the regulatory and legislative framework for integrating traditional medicine into the national healthcare system until it is possible to validate, codify and standardize its practice to ensure greater safety and efficacy. Unfortunately, modern medicine, with all its obvious merits, is not readily accessible and affordable to a large percentage of the populations, especially in the rural areas; and even in cities, most people combine traditional and modern medicines, especially in response to epidemics and ailments like HIV/AIDS EBOLA, insanity, and COVID 19, for which orthodox medicine has not provided ready cure. We argue that global health science today needs to integrate the healing traditions and innovations of local communities in Africa. But the synergy or medical pluralism we may desire needs to be carefully regulated in order to avoid the indiscriminate mixture of traditional and modern medicine.