Traditional African healing has been in existence for many centuries yet many people still seem not to understand how it relates to God and religion/spirituality.
Ancient African healers had an elaborate materia medica, which consisted of mixtures of various herbs, minerals, and clays. One of the herbs the medicine man, or Shaman, used was the Funtumia elastica which assisted in relieving respiratory conditions. The Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest in medical literature and used by ancient African healers, consisted of a collection of about 700 prescriptions for addressing internal diseases arranged according to the organ concerned. The papyri contains chapters on intestinal disease, ophthalmology, dermatology, gynecology, pregnancy diagnosis, contraception, dentistry, and the surgical treatment of abscesses, tumors, fractures and burns. Surviving papyri point to a sophisticated medical knowledge of the Egyptians.
These ancient people left an indelible mark upon medical history. Despite assertions to the contrary, it was not the Hippocratic authors who first recognized the power of nature to heal spontaneously. Excerpts, allusions, and derivations of the Egyptian papyri appear frequently in Arabic works and medieval manuscripts. Some drugs from the Nile valley could still be found in pharmacopoeias until the early 1900s – stibium is still being used to treat trachoma.
Africa is a continent with an enormous wealth of plant resources. Thousands of distinct species thrive in the lowland forest regions alone, and most have been used for centuries in traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases.
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​Every region, at one time in its history had a form of traditional medicine (Chinese and Arabic as examples). It is traditional because it is deeply rooted in a specific social-cultural context. It is now common knowledge that Kemet gave the gift of medical sciences to the world. The oldest written medical literature (named after the men who found them; called Papyrus Ebers and Smith papyrus) date back thousands of years before the Greek or Roman empires, and are in fact copies of much older writings from Egypt. The papers are now located at the New York Academy of Medicine and are the foundation of western medicine. These papyrus papers include instructions on using the natural forces of nature to cure dis-ease of the body and mind, pathology, anatomy, herbal pharmacology as well as various methods of diagnosing ailments and the locations and functions of all bodily organs.
The history of healing arts in Africa can be traced back to ca. 3200 BC, during the reign of Menes, the first Pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Most of what we know about African medicinal plants is derived from actual experience of the African traditional medical practice and beliefs as explained by the healers themselves and from ancient medical transcripts.
The ancestors are the ‘living-dead’, compassionate spirits who are blood-related to the people who believe in them. The ancestors continue to show an interest in the daily lives of the relatives that are still alive
There appears a clash in methodology and world-view when studying the differences between traditional African healing vs. Western methods (meta-physical vs. crisis intervention). Well educated traditional healers are the preferred option for African patients because of their shared belief systems, and because they offer personalized information, counseling and treatment based on an understanding of their environment. Yet even today, medical apartheid rears its head as traditional healers are rarely included in key decision making, action agendas and community program discussions held by colonizers.
Not only is this behavior arrogant, but the continued failure to engage manifests the image of the west as aggressive and perpetuates the view that the goal of colonialism is to erase indigenous peoples thoughts and perceptions of their own culture. Surely the west has many useful medical advancements that Africans can learn from, but their current overpowering role makes reciprocity nearly impossible. Traditional healers have a crucial role to play in the continued growth of the health system on the Continent, the only acceptable solution to this conundrum is African agency.