“The future must come and look at the past, to learn from the past.”
~ Erick Gbodossou, MD (traditional healer and Western-trained physician)
from the Andrew J. Young documentary, Strong Medicine: The Secret Power of African Healing.
Dr. Gbodossou’s words ring true today more than any other time in history. Scientific advances have learned (using CRISPR technology) to rewrite our DNA and possibly cure currently incurable medical conditions. At the same time, we have large swaths of the world that live in poverty and those of us in the richest parts of the world still suffering from chronic pain and illnesses that won’t abate.
By looking to the past, especially to ancient African healing practices as we discussed in our last article on African healing methods, we can see how complementary, integrative medicines that look to the wisdom of ancient cultures can be beneficial today.
Santaría
There is sometimes confusion related to the practice of Santaría—a religious practice of Caribbean origin, also known as Regla de Ocha or La Regla de Ifá—and the practice of Traditional African medicine. While it developed from slaves brought from West Africa to the Americas in as early as the 16th century. All that to say, that Santaría may be used throughout Latin America as part of a spiritual healing practice, but it’s not Traditional African Medicine…at all.
Santería, or “worship of saints,” is heavily influenced by Roman Catholicism and its healing traditions stem from spiritual influences of Europe and West Africa. The herbalism of these different continental practices mix together in Santería, while the spiritism and homeopathy of the healing traditions come predominantly from Latin America.
Impact on Illnesses such as Ebola
Without a proper understanding of how Traditional African Medicine healers and the general public understands and communicates with others about such things, real life consequences ensue.
According to The Pan African Medical Journal’s study, as published on the National Institutes of Health’s US National Library of Medicine, “The impact of traditional and religious practices on the spread of Ebola in West Africa: time for a strategic shift,”
Scientifically-based methods of combatting the spread of highly infectious diseases like Ebola are normally preferred, with very little considerations given to the impact of traditional and religious practices on preventive measures [6]. However, recent trends in West Africa have demonstrated that the use of scientific methods alone without a holistic consideration of other contextual factors is not sufficient to control the disease. For example, an analysis of media reports and recent studies [7] in West Africa reveals notable resistance against prescribed scientific ways of combating the transmission of Ebola in some affected communities. …the influence of religious and cultural beliefs cannot be denied. It is, thus, important that we recognize the impact that traditional and religious practices can have on health promotion interventions. It is also important that we acknowledge ethnic and cultural diversity among communities. … Understanding these ethno-social dynamics should help policy-makers with formulation of disease prevention approaches that are culturally tolerated by affected communities.
Given the challenges faced with ongoing efforts to contain the spread of Ebola that arise as a result of incompatibilities between some religious and cultural practices and prescribed scientific methods, it is high time we explore ways in which traditional and religious structures can be effectively implored in combatting the spread of Ebola. … As Alexander et al. [9] argue, a consideration of traditional and religious practices is critical to our understanding of transmission dynamics and subsequent control of highly infectious diseases. … As custodians of the day-to-day cultural values, traditional and religious leaders command more respect and authority in their communities than unfamiliar trained health personnel, who can be easily be viewed as having suspicious agendas.
This paper could not make this point more astutely—the more we try to ignore or reject Traditional African Medicine, the more peoples of the African continent will ignore or reject the injection of Western medicine into their healthcare practices for whatever reasons. We need to learn those reasons and integrate good medicine with good medicine, so we can be more effective in treatments both of the body and mind in all countries.
Healthcare in Africa Today | African Ancient Healing Methods
Briefly, I want to touch on healthcare in Africa today. Africa has a long way to go to resolving its healthcare status on the planet. It’s currently at around 14% of the world’s population while it holds the seeds of 54% of the globe’s communicable disease burden and only two percent of the world’s doctors. This must change for global economic growth, and the safety of everyone on Earth as we all become global citizens.
This is not a “Traditional African Medicine only way to fix this” answer. It will require bringing all medical assets to the table and challenging both traditional healers, affected populations and Western medical researchers and practitioners to come together and find workable solutions.
Modern Usage, Modern Medicine | African Ancient Healing Methods
Ethnopharmacology and ethnomedicine are going medical research fields today with great implications for integrative, complementary medicine in Africa. Back to the 2013-14 ebola epidemic, in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology’s paper, published in 2016, “Ethnomedical and ethnobotanical investigations on the response capacities of Guinean traditional health practitioners in the management of outbreaks of infectious diseases: The case of the Ebola virus epidemic.” it’s noted that “all available knowledge on the traditional [African healers’] management of [Ebola Virus Disease]-like symptoms in order to evaluate systematically the anti-Ebola potential of Guinean plant species.” There is promise and an imperative in looking to the herbalism of ancient Africa to the pharmacological impact on diseases, both mental and biological, today.
From Ancient African healers to modernity, we see a full circle in terms of interest in African’s (and global medical practitioners’) usage of Traditional African Medicine. In Africa, more than Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, Africans use traditional African medicine. Some statistics note that more than 85% of the African nations’ populations seek healing from sangomas and inyangas. For that reason alone, we cannot simply right off their efficacy or impact on global health.
There is misdiagnosis that happens today throughout the African continent. And, if modern medicine and Traditional African Medicine can complement one another, this is an area for great benefit to the traditional healers and their patients.
Herbalism in Africa has been around for more than two hundred millennia. Although the documentation is scarce, the proof of the scientific veracity of these herbal remedies is only limited by medical researchers’ desires to study them.
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Traditional African Medicine is not simply a “Poor Person’s Medicine.” It can provide solutions for people of all means to find health and wellness, if they so choose to seek it out.