indigenous industry

In many parts of the developed world, the practice of medicine by relying on such tools as herbs, meditation, trance, acupuncture, ionised water etc. is tolerated under the rubric of “complementary medicine”.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, many public hospitals, such as the famed St. Mary’s in London’s Paddington, even have dedicated complimentary medicine wings, even though there is never any confusion about orthodox, “science-based”, medicine being the reigning sovereign[i].

The joke is that we prefer to think in similar terms in Africa too.

It would have been funny were it not for the fact that in Africa more than 75% of the population are estimated to rely, at least partly, on traditional medicine for their primary and secondary healthcare needs[ii].

Yet, the observers, commentators and so-called policy experts holding sway over the continent’s health sector continue to pretend as if we can afford to treat traditional medicine as the poor cousin of the mainstream medical system.