African Traditional Medicine Day

Residents of the countries of the Black Continent have long used magical rituals and spells, diet, massages, steam baths and herbal decoctions to treat various diseases Traditional African medicine, like Chinese medicine, is based on the use of traditional medicines: tinctures, herbal ointments, bloodletting, powders containing animal products The Pharmacopoeia is partially under government supervision: many drugs are sold in pharmacies and kiosks Due to the low standard of living, the majority of Africans do not have access to quality medical care using modern diagnostic equipment and medications Therefore, doctors who received their education at local universities and abroad have recently begun to show more and more interest in traditional medicine This is justified by the fact that 80% of Africans rely on it for healthcare A holiday has been established in honor of the folk healing of the Black Continent August 31 is African Traditional Medicine Day For a long time, traditional methods of treatment were considered primitive and lagging behind modern European realities Colonial and apartheid governments until the 1990s XX century fought against healers and traditional medicine in South Africa and other African countries However, this did not change the attitude of the population towards her, who for thousands of years used magical rituals and herbal medicine to get rid of malaria, cholera, cough, hypertension, asthma, impotence and sexually transmitted diseases Doctors consider any ailment as a violation of moral and ethical standards for the patient, for which the deceased ancestors and gods send punishment in the form of physical weakness Before starting therapy, healers consult the spirit world, referring the patient to a seer or fortune teller Making a diagnosis may involve sacrifice to the gods African healers use in their practice both folk remedies and medicinal baths, as well as massage, inhalations and surgery Part of medical rituals often involves the magical transfer of illness to an animal The date of celebration of African Traditional Medicine Day is associated with the adoption of a resolution by the WHO Regional Organization on August 31, 2000 at its regular meeting in Ougadougou, the capital of Birkin-Afaso The decision partly legitimizes the use of folk remedies to treat patients using tea, powders and tinctures from the bark of the African plum, a decoction of the roots and leaves of sekuridaki and other plants The WHO resolution helps integrate traditional medicine into the modern healthcare system, preserving for posterity the knowledge and practice accumulated by indigenous peoples in maintaining health and treating physical and mental disorders