Handbook of African Medicinal Plants


Book Description

With over 50,000 distinct species in sub-Saharan Africa alone, the African continent is endowed with an enormous wealth of plant resources. While more than 25 percent of known species have been used for several centuries in traditional African medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases, Africa remains a minor player in the global natural




Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa


Book Description

In Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta and Tabi Chama-James Tabenyang unpack the contentious South African government’s post-apartheid policy framework of the ‘‘return to tradition policy’’. The conjuncture between deep sociopolitical crises, witchcraft, the ravaging HIV/AIDS pandemic and the government’s initial reluctance to adopt antiretroviral therapy turned away desperate HIV/AIDS patients to traditional healers. Drawing on historical sources, policy documents and ethnographic interviews, Pemunta and Tabenyang convincingly demonstrate that despite biomedical hegemony, patients and members of their therapy-seeking group often shuttle between modern and traditional medicine, thereby making both systems of healthcare complementary rather than alternatives. They draw the attention of policy-makers to the need to be aware of ‘‘subaltern health narratives’’ in designing health policy.




Traditional Medicine in Africa


Book Description

The inaccessibility of biomedicine to most of Africa's population because of escalating costs has necessitated a search for alternative ways of managing illnesses. Traditional medicine, which has always been practised in the indigenous cultures, is fast filling this therapeutic gap. This book is a collection of essays based on a multidisciplinary approach to traditional medicine in Africa. It has contributions from social scientists, natural resource experts, traditional medical practitioners, educationists, and medical scholars. It attempts to define the problems of traditional medicine in Africa, while also discussing the conceptual foundations of African ethnomedicine and medical pluralism.




African Traditional Medicine


Book Description

This book documents the traditional knowledge and use of African medicinal plants. In total more than 5,400 plants from south of the Sahara to the Cape are listed and over 16,300 medicinal applications with plant part, details on method of preparation and dosage.




Healing Traditions


Book Description

Healing Traditions offers a historical perspective to the interactions between South Africa's traditional healers and biomedical practitioners. It provides an understanding that is vital for the development of medical strategies to effectively deal with South Africa's healthcare challenges.




African Indigenous Medical Knowledge and Human Health


Book Description

Despite the relevance of and empirical evidence for African Traditional Medicine, based on African Indigenous Medical Knowledge (AIMK), research and development of new phytomedicines from this continent has been slow. African Indigenous Medical Knowledge and Human Health aims to provide a catalyst for health innovations based on the rich African biodiversity and AIMK. The book documents some of the success stories from the continent related to AIMK and serves as a one-step reference for all professionals interested in the research and development of medical interventions - including pharmacognosists, ethnobiologists, botanists, phytochemists, pharmacologists and medical scientists.




The Professionalisation of African Medicine


Book Description

Originally published in 1986, this book draws upon a range of authors to reflect wide interest in systematising traditional medicine, and to include material on significant instances of regulation or organisation. It was the first book to study the efforts of traditional healers and their newly formed professional associations and as such constitutes a pioneering collection of sources. Because of the changing position of traditional medicine it may well also be a unique record: before long what is described here will largely have disappeared.




African Traditional Medicine


Book Description

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AMONG SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: ? Revealed that African traditional medicine could be used in the explicable or inexplicable form. ? Examined the veracity of the claim that the practice and use of African traditional medicine amounted to idolatry, ? Identified the patterns and extent of the practice and use of traditional medicine among the Seventh-day Adventists in particular and Christians in general, ? Analyzed the social, economic and spiritual impacts of the practice and use of traditional medicine on Seventh-day Adventists and other Christians. ? Discussed the interplay between African traditional medical practices and Western medical practices in the health care delivery system of the Seventh-day Adventists. ? Discovered that Seventh-day Adventists use the explicable form of African traditional medicine to meet their health needs because it was affordable, available and effective to meet their health needs. ? Demonstrated that using the explicable form of African traditional medicine to meet the health needs of Seventh-day Adventists is supported by the Bible and Ellen G. White, who said among other things that: God has caused to grow out of the ground, herbs for the use of man, and if we understand the nature of these roots and herbs, and make a right use of them, there would not be a necessity of running to the doctor so frequently, and people would be in much better health than they are today. (Selected Messages, bk. 2, pp. 297-298)




Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society


Book Description

At the turn of the 20th century, African societies witnessed the suppression of indigenous healing specialists as missionary proselytization and colonial rule increased. Governments, medical practitioners and academics focused little attention or resources on the production of "traditional" medicine, despite its potential use for advancing health care delivery to millions of people in rural communities and providing the basis for a medicinal industry. Focusing on the case of Ghana, Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society investigates the ways in which healers and indigenous archives of cultural knowledge conceptualize and interpret medicine and healing. In order to unearth these prevailing concepts, Konadu utilizes in-depth interviews, plant samples, material culture, linguistics, and other sources. This groundbreaking study of indigenous knowledge has important implications for the study of medical and knowledge systems in Africa and the African Diaspora worldwide. By closely examining a range of multidisciplinary sources and utilizing fieldwork in the Takyiman district of central Ghana, the book contributes a new dimension to the study of health and healing systems in the African context and offers scholars, students, and general readers a vital reference.




African Traditional Medicine


Book Description