Suspicion, secrecy hinders documentation of traditional medicine
THE move by the Government to open a Chinese Traditional Medicine Clinic at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the capital has been described as a bold statement that points to a radical redirection and move by the country to consolidate indigenous knowledge systems in the health sector that has been plagued and weighted down by a coterie of problems.
Prior to this milestone development, the first of its kind, traditional medicine has been pushed to the periphery by conventional drugs despite the fact that large numbers of African families (both rural and urban) use traditional medicine for their health care, much so because it is accessible, affordable, culturally appropriate and acceptable.
Despite its increasing acceptance in Zimbabwe’s rural communities, this rich indigenous knowledge is not adequately documented. In fact, it has been shrouded in a black blanket of suspicion and secrecy with those in the practice not willing to come out in the open and declare their knowledge.
Traditional Medicine Practitioners Council Registrar Ms Joice Guhwa said it was heartening to note that the Government had made a bold step to recognise traditional medicine which was facing demise due to lack of recognition.
She said there was a need to create a platform for integration without segregation where Government would craft a policy that allows a patient to take traditional medicine while in hospital. Currently the policy disallows that.
Ms Guhwa however, expressed her concern saying there was a lot of secrecy and suspicion by those in the practice to divulge what they know which she said was impacting on the documentation of knowledge for posterity.
“The biggest challenge is to get the traditional healers to say what they know. There is a lot of secrecy and suspicion around the subject. We have managers and chief executive officers who are traditional healers but they do not want to be known, they do not want to come out in the open with what they know despite the encouragement for them to do so. The claim is that some have elders who come through them and they claim to have no permission from them to disclose what they know. So, in as much as we want to document the knowledge that desire may as well remain a pipe dream,” she said.
She said it was also important for traditional practitioners to consider undergoing trainings on various diseases so that they know the common signs and symptoms to avoid diagnostic failures that would lead to wrong medication.
“There are diseases that traditional medicine can cure but there has been no holistic guidance from the Government to make traditional medicine an alternative to conventional medicine. I believe more needs to be done in that area and the potential is there. We should pluck a leaf from such countries as China and the Government has to take the initiative,” she said.
She urged co-operation between the two systems. She was, however, quick to point out that a hindrance to such co-operation was the lack of trust on the part of the traditional medical practitioners who fear that all acknowledgements would go to Western medicine while they would not gain much. Ms Guhwa said dispelling such fears would advance the cause for collaboration adding that the Government should provide financial support to promote the potential role of traditional medicine in primary health care.
Documentation of plants used as traditional medicines is therefore needed so that the knowledge can be preserved and the utilised plants conserved and used sustainably. The feeling in Government is that although the use of traditional herbs and medicine remains a personal option, there is a need for heightened effort in conscientising the communities that traditional medicine is not demonic as otherwise portrayed by some church beliefs.
Speaking at the official opening of the traditional medicine clinic recently, Vice-President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga said the new centre would complement Zimbabwe’s health care system.
“Experience has shown that including traditional Chinese medicine in a health care protocol improves outcome for patients, for example, traditional Chinese medicine can provide good support to patients who suffer from some conditions, particularly those that are chronic and degenerative, for example, low back pain. I am, therefore, confident that the new facilities here at the hospital will radically improve the quality of service and infrastructure for patients and staff both in the immediate future and in the years to come,” Chiwenga said.
Herbalist and director of Musimboti Traditional Science and Technology Institute Mr Morgan Zimunya said it was a display of ignorance for anyone to claim that herbs and traditional medicine do not work when populations in countries like India and China that are relied upon in medicine are known powerhouses of traditional medicine.
He says in Zimbabwe research has shown that more than 80 percent of pregnant mothers have their primary health care techniques rooted in the use of traditional medicine and urged harmonisation of the practice between traditional and conventional practitioners for the good of the country’s health sector. He said traditional medicine was holistic and culturally accepted adding that the bulk of African families rely on it for primary health care, especially in pre and post-natal health care.
“Traditional medicine has been in use since time immemorial. To this day 80 percent of pregnant mothers in Zimbabwe rely on it one way or the other. In any community traditional medicine forms the first line of health care as it is used at the first stages of illness. So, to me as to any African, the question as to the effectiveness of traditional medicine is not only unAfrican but absurd because that is what exactly has been relied on before the advent of conventional medicine. So, you find that every community has its belief system, known herbalists and their specialty areas,” said Mr Zimunya.
He added that some of his herbs were sought after even by Western countries that were initially in the forefront of discrediting traditional medicine.
“Traditional medicine practitioners and herbalists are readily available and explain illness in terms that are familiar because they are part of the local belief systems. The practitioner and the patient are culturally bound, and the practitioner has a personal interest and stake in the patient, who may be a relative, a relative of a friend or a neighbour who they may want to come back or to refer other people as well. Health problems are based on the notion that each cultural group handles its medical problems in a particular way, with its own worldview, traditions, values and institutions. Traditional medicine is an important part of culture,” he said.
Mr Zimunya applauded the Government for its efforts in ensuring the practice was registered and regulated.
He said traditional medicine could treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs), genital warts, snake bites and many other diseases. From the wide range of herbs he produces and packages pills, cough mixtures, eye drops, tea leaves, ointments and other medications which help the body to keep fit.
He said they were growing their products on farms and even outgrowing for a constant supply of the herbal raw materials and to avoid depleting the natural forests.
The challenge in documentation, he said, was that unlike Western medical practitioners who acquire the basic skills through an intensive and selective education specialising in related medical disciplines, African traditional medical practitioners acquire their skills through observation and a long and tedious apprenticeship involving intervention of ethno-socio-curricula activities that are not backed by science.
“We appreciate that traditional medical practices and their underlying beliefs are repositories of empirical observations and insights accumulated over long periods of practical experience. This wealth of information must be harmonised and documented through newer experiences and knowledge, as more sophisticated analytical methods and technologies become available.
“With appropriate appreciation of the empiricallyidentified maladies of the folklore, many of the ancient herbal cures have provided leads and have found rigorous scientific basis in the form of some modern medicines such as aspirin,” he said.
He added that culturally, people believed in the old while looking forward to the modern.
“It is therefore logical to incorporate use of traditional medical dimensions in Western medicine, and vice versa.”
The World Health Organisation ( WHO) recognises the use of traditional medicines under the Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023 that was developed and launched in response to the World Health Assembly resolution on traditional medicine.
The strategy aims to support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy.