CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Justin Mendy, Senegal, March 1999
THEME = HEALTH
The First International Congress on Traditional Medicine and HIV/AIDS,
took place in March 1999, in Dakar.
The Congress concentrated its attention on the relevancy
of traditional medical practice in Africa and abroad
In his address, Mr.Balla Moussa Daffé, Senegal's Minister of Scientific Research and Technology, made a significant statement: "We have to recognise that classical medicine, in spite of its numerous successes and striking performances, still remains powerless to treat certain diseases such as psychological or psychosomatic disorders which affect more than 50% of populations in developed countries".
Also, Dr.Erick Gbodossou (Senegal), who is currently President of the Association for Promoting Traditional Medicine (PROMETRA) said: "Traditional medicine is a system of precious insights, an ancient wisdom, a renewed set of practices for harmonising humankind with the environment in which it lives. It has proved itself successful in many fields and has enormous possibilities at its disposal".
Traditional medicine is as old as humanity. Long before "modern" medicine came on the scene, it always made use of natural remedies to relieve diverse ailments. Nowadays, the world over, there is renewed interest in herbal medicine. On the African continent and elsewhere, there is a fresh upsurge in the practice of traditional medicine, taking into account the limits of modern medicine when it comes to treating certain diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and the prohibitive cost of consultations and medicines for the ordinary citizen.
Mr.Cheikh Tidiane Diop, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister of Family and Social Action, declared: "Traditional medicine always constitutes a recourse for people in need, especially those who cannot afford health services because they're too far away from centres where medical help is available, or because they lack the necessary funds to pay for medical assistance."
For all these reasons, PROMETRA organised the March 1999 Dakar Congress. There were over 500 African doctors and healers present, plus others from the Americas, all wanting to have their say about every aspect of traditional medical practice.
Emerging clearly from the meeting was the necessity to create a real bridge between traditional and classical medicine. In a document entitled "The Dakar Declaration", participants advocated that healers must play an active role in a processus which will eventually lead to cooperating with their colleagues engaged in classical medicine. In this way they will be able to take an active part in medical research projects, and establish local structures to facilitate people's access to health services.
Before imparting information about their remedies, traditional practitioners insisted on a number of guarantees that their remedies will be officially recognised. They've had sad experience in this matter in the past. Participants also agreed that there must be some kind of legal framework for traditional healers. Most of the time this is non-existent, and traditional healers must operate in a climate of mere tolerance in their own countries and also abroad, where there is absolutely no legislation governing their work. And such legislation must be conceived in such a way that there is absolute equality between the two branches of medical practice. In no way must traditional medicine be considered the poor relation.
PROMETRA has been given the responsibility of protecting traditional medical knowledge and promoting it at a local and world level. Traditional medicine is involved in many different fields, and PROMETRA will also have the responsibility of: Coordinating all these activities so as to interest donor organisations; determining the origins of this traditional knowledge; ensuring the valorisation of traditional medicine; guaranteeing that traditional medicine will remain; safeguarding this cultural heritage and treasure of knowledge received from the ancestors.
This will be done by the healers surrounding themselves with trustworthy colleagues, who will not disappear from the scene taking their learning and know-how with them. The fact is, in Africa, traditional healers sometimes die without passing on any part of their knowledge to their "heirs".
Also, traditional healers are on the lookout for substantial funding so they can improve their work. They've got in mind the millions spent on modern medicine, research and on symposia which seem to lead nowhere.
PROMETRA has thus been entrusted with an important mission and is well-qualified to carry it through on account of its experience. Since 1971, it has been focusing its work (centred in Fatick Administrative Area, Senegal), on fostering traditional medicine and forging links with similar traditions elsewhere. In so doing, PROMETRA has been able to single out healers from 264 villages within the Area, distinguishing them from quacks and since 1981, integrating them into the Association.
PROMETRA has cooperated with Tulane University, New Orleans, and the Morehouse Medical School, Atlanta, (both in USA), in a research project entitled: "The Knowledge, Viewpoints and Modus Operandi of Healers, Medical and Paramedical Staff and the people of Fatick".
The journalist Pape Mbdji, writing in the Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil published the results of the survey. He says: "90% of the population have recourse to the healers; 87% of patients consulting them are satisfied (because they've been healed or their health has improved); 52% of the healers collaborate with their counterparts practising modern medicine; 81% of healers are informed in matters of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD)s, HIV/AIDS, psychosomatic sickness, asthma, dermatology and certain incurable conditions such as diabetes and infective hepatitis. Such a survey has made possible a research project using the traditional healers to spread information covering such issues as natural family planning and the fight against diarrhoea in children.
In associating both branches of medical practice (classical and traditional), Minister Ballé Daffé, who is also a pharmacist, suggests that more emphasis be given to the exploitation of biosphere reserves and biodiversity. Such an exploitation, he says, "can allow the production of clones, genes and antibodies monoclone which can be used without side effects".
Mr.Cheikh Tidiane Diop, for his part, thinks that this cooperation could expunge several diseases and, maybe, even take on AIDS.
Certain healers claim that they can treat AIDS but, according to modern medicine, results prove rather negative. In the Dakar Congress, however, some healers insisted that "AIDS patients, treated with herbal medicines, experienced an improvement". And others stressed the faith-healing aspect of treatments which brought relief to those suffering from HIV.
Dr.Ibra Ndoye is president of Senegal's National Committee for the Fight Against AIDS, and is of the opinion that "healers will have to accept that ordinary laboratories make post-treatment tests on their patients to check on the presence or otherwise of HIV. Traditional healers need to be trained in epidemiology, clinical observation and treatment, and criteria of cure of the disease. They should also know how the disease evolves and the dangers involved for the patient if he/she stops certain treatments".
Dr Gbodossu says that in Africa, (where 21 million adults and children are HIV-positive, and where, on average, 1 in 14 persons is contaminated by the virus), any new strategy in the fight against AIDS must adapt itself to changing circumstances and must be based on: Practical proposals; whatever is available; whatever is effective. In addition to the efforts of specialists in modern medicine, governments and associations, it has to include those who practice traditional medicine - they, also, have a contribution to make in the fight against this scourge challenging everyone.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1999 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement