African Medical Beliefs

Many traditional Native medicines and healing practices were discouraged with the advent of Western medicine, but now there is a movement to return to traditional ways (Zubek, 1994, p. 1924). Modern Western medicine treats the symptoms to cure a diseased state when the body is out of homeostasis. Native American healing traditions do this as well with herbs and plants suited to the purpose. These Native healing traditions also include sacred rituals, chants, and purification rites to help bring the spirit and mind of the afflicted back into balance. In effect, treating the whole person, not only the disease. A blending of these two healing practices could bring about better prognoses for today's patients. The purpose of this paper is

Biomedical physicians and traditional Native American healers are collaborating together to decipher how Native American treatments should proceed in the modern world and how to effectively introduce non-Natives to Native American healing practices. Hospitals and educational institutions including Harvard University, developed their own institution of alternative medicine. Doctor Lewis E. Mehl- Madrona’s 7 to 28 day intensive treatment program inspired by Native American healing traditions proved to have lasting effects on health improvement among those with chronic illness even 5 years after the start of the program. Improvements were also shown by patients who only received conventional treatment with the exception of diabetic patients. The most notable improvements of the diabetic patients were reinforced with the results from the spiritually oriented complementary therapy (Mehl-Madrona,

In the Antebellum South, physician practices were often questioned for their veracity, and were frequently disregarded by both the slave owners and slaves themselves. Therefore, slaves and masters typically received medical care from the herb and root doctors living within the plantation’s boundaries. These specialty doctors were normal slaves, however, they had intimate knowledge of roots and herbs that helped cure certain diseases. Along with their practices being less painful than the cupping, leeching, lancing, and mercuralizing that a typical physician would perform, root and herb doctors were the primary medical practitioner to consult for an illness (Kiple 1-2). The incapability to trust physician’s practices forced slaves to deal with

If you were in the desert or woods and bitten by a snake, where you go for help? A call to the local ambulance and a fast ride to the emergency room are not available to you. How would you know what potions to use and what would heal your wounds? This was the dilemma of the Native American People hundreds of years ago. How did they handle it? The medical traditions and customs have remained a mystery to us for hundreds of years. This paper will try to explore some of these customs and possibly uncover some of the mystery.

Native American traditional medicine and spiritual healing rituals go back for thousands of years, these traditions often focus on different variations of alternative medicine. This knowledge is passed on throughout generations, many of the tribes learn that by mixing natural plants such as herbs and roots they can make remedies with healing properties. It is believed that being healthy is when people reach a state of harmony not only spiritually, mentally but physically. To be able to overcome the forces that cause illness people must “operate in the context of relationship to four constructs —namely, spirituality (Creator, Mother Earth, Great Father); community (family, clan, tribe/nation); environment (daily life, nature, balance); and self (inner passions and peace, thoughts, and values)” (Portman & Garret, 2006, p.453). In this research paper I am going to show evidence of the tremendous influence that Native American medicine and spiritual healing have over modern medicine in the course of healing

Nowadays, medicine is tested and approved before it hits the market. Back in the days a person would pass treatments through word of mouth and could seriously injure or make the disease worse. People in historical times would believe that illnesses involved certain spiritual, psychological and social aspects of a person. This was back in the time where there was no scientific evidence that traditional medicine could aid an affected person. Traditional medicine has been around much longer than modern medicine and they were an important part of recorded history. People back in the old days had to dispel and challenge folklore with scientific evidence. Doctors back in the old days had to not only find a way to dispel folklore, but also get ordinary people to listen to them and to help them believe in their practices. Without all of these people, medicine would be nowhere near as it is

African- Americans had an immensely different experience dealing with disease and illness opposed to white masters. With fewer resources, in some cases, the slaves developed medicine or treatments that were more helpful and advanced than those of the white physicians. For example, the Burdock root was used as a treatment for diabetes. It was also used by herbalists for treating dropsy, gout, blood disorders, rheumatism and fungal infections. (Fitzgerald 2) Back then, the slaves would also use certain methods of healing that didn’t involve injesting a medicine. It was very common for the slaves to believe in using charms and magic for their remedies. Often those considered to be advanced healers would also be considered very skilled with

These practices were similar to that of the Native Americans. As the black men and women were subjugated and confined into harsh labor on the Plantation in North America, they continue to practice domestic medicine, rituals and ceremonies which involved calling on supernatural forces to cure and heal the sick. African-Americans approached to health and healing was in the context of communal health. In curing for the sick, African-American healers drew healing powers from the understanding of spiritual vision from which the power of the ancestors played a central role. They incorporated ritual practices and ceremonies to gain knowledge, power, energy, and strength that enabled herb doctors to secure herb combinations to cure an ailing

This credible source could be useful in my research by showing how sub-Saharan Africa’s health centers are in dire condition. It would also be useful because it shows how spirituality and medicine go hand-in-hand, especially in developing countries.

The African Doctor is about this African man, who is a doctor living in a dictatorship country. He wants to move because he doesn’t want to live in a dictatorship country. One night he was hanging around with his friends at a bar, there he met a man looking for a local doctor for a small village. The man, which is the mayor of the village, talks to the doctor about the details and instead of persuading him to take the job, he pushes the doctor away. The reason he did so, was because the small village has never seen a black person. The doctor insist of taking the job anyway, feeling good about it. The doctor calls his family, telling them that they’re moving. The family misunderstood where they were moving to and thought they were going to Paris instead. The next day, they

If there is not access then it would be a valid reason that people are still going to witch doctors to use these potions and rituals for healing instead. In an article by Edward J Mills and his colleagues, they gathered research over 9 countries in Africa to estimate the financial cost of doctors educated in Africa that emigrate after graduation. It was found in their research that countries in Africa have lost anywhere from “$2.16m (1.55m to 2.78m) for Malawi to $1.41bn (1.38bn to 1.44bn) for South Africa” (Mills et al. 4). These statistics portray how these sub-Saharan African countries are educating a plethora of doctors, but most end up emigrating to other first world countries, thus leaving a shortage of doctors in sub-Saharan Africa. Another article was written 13 years prior by F.J.C. Millard, a well-known physician who traveled to South Africa a number of times, goes through a list of issues in the health care system of South Africa and lists one of the main problems is the shortage of doctors. Millard states that there are enough doctors educated in Africa, however, “there is a severe shortage in rural areas” and “many doctors emigrate” (748). These two articles, one a research conducted and the other a first-hand account, were written 13 years apart and their findings are almost identical. It is conclusive that

Medicine, in westernized societies, draws upon scientific formulas and is used to treat illnesses and diseases of the physical health. What is taken for granted, pharmaceutically, in these societies is not so in others. Alternative methods of healing are used in cultures that either do not have access to this type of medicine or choose to treat illnesses on the basis of their spiritual and religious beliefs. Focusing specifically on Yoruba culture and religion, traditional healing practices are an integral part of their society. Quote on their importance of having good physical health. Spiritual health, as well, is an important aspect of Yoruba culture. To westernized cultures, this form of healing can sometimes be perceived as ineffective and insignificant to orthodox medicine (western perception of natural healing will be discussed further in this paper); however, to the people of this religion, healing on the basis of natural elements is a positive and essential process to living a fulfilled life. This paper will be exploring Yoruba traditional healing practices both physically and spiritually. As well, the specific Yoruba deities associated with health and herbal medicine will be discussed.

The Enlightenment and the emerging of modern rationalism have paved the way to a worldview where the suspicion of witchcraft is not needed to explain the mysterious phenomena of this world. This is not the case in Africa. The belief in the existence of witches, evil persons who are able to harm others by using mystical powers, is part of the common cultural knowledge. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop states, “Almost all African societies believe in witchcraft in one form or another. Belief in witchcraft is the traditional way of explaining the ultimate cause of evil, misfortune or death.” The African worldview is holistic. In this perception, things do not just happen. What happens, either good or bad, is traced back to human action,

Cultural boundaries have been the epicenter of driving apart individuals from different cultural backgrounds. The movie The African Doctor is the perfect example of such differences. It also portrays how and why overcoming these boundaries is significant to the wellbeing of the community. The community in which the African doctor is integrating has multiple things in common but the uncertainty avoidance that the community had was too high to permit any exchanges between the two cultures. The way the African doctor adapted to the way the locals where is proof that communication competence is key when it comes to dealing with and ingroups when being part of the out group. And trying to break the barrier of closed minded people that were born and raised in a specific environment that wasn’t proan to interact with anything other than themselves is very difficult, but in fact possible. The African Doctor shows us the tenacity of how to deal with these instances. Overcoming the obvious boundaries that exist between two separate cultures by focusing on how beneficial they are to each other is key to improving the eachothers lives.

Cause of illness: In Ethiopia spiritual powers are the main reason of illness because they believe spirits, souls etc. Beside this the supernatural forces is also one of the main reason of illness in this healers. Demonic powers are considered to be the affective reason for bad health such as miscarriages or mental stress or physical illness. On the other hand side in ayurvedic medicine the main reason of illness is physical or mental imbalance of the body like back pain, stress and the other reason of illness in Ayurveda is changes in environment. Mostly the cold and hot weather affect the