Herbal Medicine

 

I want to talk about a section of a book I just bought. It is an herbal remedy book and to my surprise it had a section on Africa. 

Africa has the highest amount of herbal traditions than anywhere else in the world. There was a time when natural remedies were looked down on, but has since turned around, and is more accepted.

The ancient Eqyptians had over 800 prescriptions in a text called the Ebers Papyrus. It includes traditional and spiritual remedies. This was used to develop the medical practice used today worldwide. Aloe was included multiple times, and is a well known plant used today for weight loss, diabetes, asthma, fever, inflammation, etc. Trade of herbal medicine lasted about 3,000 years and helped Arab physicians advance in the 8th century. 

There are some traditions of herbal medicine to only be involved with spirits. It is believed that sickness is from someone being possessed by spirit. If the magical herbs do not heal the person then it is thought to be because the evil was too strong. They used a divination bowl to diagnose illness by magical signs. 

There are thousands of markets in Africa selling locally grown medicinal plants. Iboga is one to help with fatigue. They discovered this by watching the gorillas eat it and become energized. Conventional Western medicine is all throughout Africa today. Only in the rural areas will you find the traditions being used regularly. Traditional herbal medicine is brought into the urban areas when the western medicine is limited. This is because the herbalists vastly outnumber the western trained doctors. 

As medical information advances some herbs are still used as they were years ago and some are under close observation due to questionable side effects or not enough information. Medicinal plants are not 100% accepted in today's society. 

Sources:

Chevallier, Andrew. Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine. New York. DK Publishing. 2016.

"Ebers Papyrus." New World Encyclopedia, . 20 Apr 2011, 17:38 UTC. 6 Oct 2021, 06:52 <https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Ebers_Papyrus&oldid=950819>.

Aloe. Natural Medicines website. Accessed at naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com on October 14, 2019.

Science Museum Group. Divination bowl, Nigeria, 1880-1920. A655922Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed October 6, 2021. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co107385/divination-bowl-nigeria-1880-1920-ritual-object-divination-bowl.

Tella A. The practice of traditional medicine in Africa. Niger Med J. 1979 May-Jun;9(5-6):607-12. PMID: 525052.