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Afrikan Traditional Medicine Day

 

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Afrikan Traditional Medicine Day

It’s difficult to explain what it was like finding out in my mid-forties that 42 years, ago at the International Conference on Primary Healthcare, it was declared that traditional medicine is a key aspect of primary health care as per the Alma-Ata Declaration made on September 12th 1978. However disconcerting that was, discovering that 20 years ago on August 31st Afrikan Ministers of Health meeting at a WHO Afrika Region conference declared that the day would be Afrikan Traditional Medicine Day was worse. More perplexing was learning that the OAU (at the time) in 2001, declared 2001-2010 the Decade of Traditional Medicine. A time to promote its use, legislation and ensure the standards of care were improved. To find out all this in the last two weeks has been overwhelming.

The WHO says that Primary health care (PHC) addresses the majority of a person’s health needs throughout their lifetime. This includes physical, mental and social well-being and it is people-centred rather than disease-centred. PHC is a whole-of-society approach that includes health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.  I also found out that again according to the WHO, 80% of Afrikans rely on Afrikan Traditional Medicine and that by 2012, 40 Afrikan countries had national Traditional Medicine policies, 19 had strategic plans, 28 had national research institutes conducting research on traditional medicine products used for Malaria, HIV/AID, Sickle-cell disease, Diabetes and hypertension. 13 countries had marketing authorizations for traditional medicine products; 7 had added traditional medicine products into their National Essential Medicines Lists and nine countries adopted national frameworks for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and traditional medicine knowledge (TMK) related to practices and products. (Source: WHO)

Why is this a big deal?

I grew up believing that Afrikan Traditional Medicine or Indigenous Holistic Medicine was the devil’s work. That it was dirty, prepared by sinister and unhygienic people, that it could never hope to compete with conventional medicine. That it was not as effective. Now, I discover that not only was the WHO pushing Afrikan countries to promote it but that it was legitimized when I was still a baby! That I grew up using medication that had long lists of side effects when the very thing that God intended for me to use was available right at my fingertips. For free even. That the majority of people in Afrika have depended upon it for their own primary health care and they are not backward in their thinking. That even ‘modern’ doctors prefer it for themselves and their families but will feed their patients poison.

In my little experience using indigenous holistic medicine from late last year, I can tell you that we have been played. Genesis 1:29, Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:2 all clearly demonstrate where our health and nutrition were to come from. The leaves and the fruit. This heavily retarded ‘modern’ world has reversed its concepts of what is good and has even gone to the extent of manipulating the DNA of our food and creating weird things from cells that they want you to eat and call food. Yet, we were given everything we needed by our loving Father from the get-go and all we had to do was maintain it. Instead, ‘modern progress’ seeks to corrupt it. ‘Modern medicine’ has made tons of money off the created ill-fortune of those who trusted them, giving drugs that cause reactions that require other drugs or lead to death or disability. For money!

See Also

Afrika’s healthcare comes from the natural sunshine God has blessed us with, the pure pools of water that we have or must restore, the healthy toxin-free soil that will yield healthy nutrient-dense food from natural organic seed. Our healthcare comes from the leaves, the bark, the fruit that we eat or drink as tonics and beverages. Our healthcare comes from the sweet relationships we have with family and friends that help us maintain balanced perspectives and come to our aid in time of need and vice versa. Our healthcare comes from the loving, healthy, constant and reverential connection we have to God, our Maker, Husband and King, Who sustains us in every situation and guides and helps us to will and do His pleasure. And we must do everything now to fight to reclaim and defend this so that our people can be strong, healthy, of sound mind, balanced in every way spiritually. That way we can stand ready for the challenges that will soon come to hit the world. Or did you think Covid-19 was it?

Find out more here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zFc9IAyGFrs

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View Comments (2)
  • Hi Chioma,

    Great and informative article. Yes I put my hand up as I was not aware of this information.

    I’m all for us returning to our traditional ways of healing in Africa. As you are in publishing, do you think it’s time for us to start documenting our traditional healing treatments and herbs. It’s concerning as we at a risk of losing all this knowledge as our elders depart to the spirit world. I know one person cannot do it all for all the different communities in each country but we ought vto start somewhere.
    Lastly do you know if there is a database or list for traditional healers in Africa and specifically Kenya?

    Keep up the good work, we have hope and trust that this ancient knowledge will be restored for our people.

    Ps: Please could you share the great doctor’s contact details featured on your video?

    Regards
    Wambui Muiruri

    • Hello Wambui, thank you very much for reading and getting back to us. Your suggestions are spot on! This is exactly what we need to do, document what we can in our own way and to treat that as urgent. If we can speak to parents, grandparents and other of those custodians of knowledge we may know and write down what they share about indigenous medicine and plants and food and living and share this information with each other we can begin to remedy this. We can turn back the tide and recapture what was lost along the way. As much of it as possible.
      We will email you the doctor’s contacts shortly.
      Thank you again.

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