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ERICK VIDJIN’ AGNIH GBODOSSOU, MD
President, PROMETRA International
Dr.
Gbodossou is an Ob-Gyn and psychiatrist, with a joint degree in
medicine and pharmacy from the University of Dakar in Senegal. Now
a Senegalese citizen, Dr. Gbodossou was born in Benin in the
Atlantic coastal town of Grand Popo. Dr. Gbodossou served as an
obstetrician-gynecologist at the CHU hospital in Dakar in the late
1970s and was later appointed Chief Inspector of Medicine in
Senegal. He now maintains a private practice in Dakar along with
his duties as President of PROMETRA International.
Dr. Gbodossou traces his traditional
medicine roots back to childhood. He was chosen at the age of two
to be trained and initiated in the forest as a healer under the
direction of his grandfather and a team of elders. He often tells
stories of how he learned medicine from the forest and its
residents. Once he spent time watching three baby birds in their
nest. Two grew up and flew away, but the third remained. He
climbed the tree to see what was wrong and saw that its eyes were
swollen shut with infection. Over the next week, he watched as the
mother and father birds brought a leaf to the nest that they chewed
up and placed on the infected eyes. After a week the baby bird was
well and flew away. Dr. Gbodossou now uses this effective plant in
his practice for conjunctivitis, and he considers the birds his
teachers.
While in Senegal, Dr.
Gbodossou began working with traditional healers from the Sereer
ethnic group. It soon became clear that their valuable knowledge
was in danger of disappearing forever. The elders who were the
repository of the orally transmitted tradition and indigenous
knowledge were dying, and not enough young people were taking up the
practice to keep it alive. Determined to preserve and resuscitate
the ancient healing arts, Dr. Gbodossou in 1976 founded an
organization in Senegal called PROMETRA – The Association for the
Promotion of Traditional Medicine. He later established a healing
and research center in the town of Fatick, 150 km southeast of
Dakar, the Center for Experimental Traditional Medicine (CEMETRA).
From its humble beginnings with a few healers in Senegal, PROMETRA
International now has official chapters in 22 countries and
collaborates with traditional healers in Africa, United States,
Brazil, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Dr. Gbodossou and the
PROMETRA network has collaborated with western-trained health and
medical researchers in Africa, Europe and America, including the
World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
UNICEF, the Global Health Council (USA), NOVIB in the Netherlands,
the International Medical Exchange of South Africa, and the
Institute of Medical Anthropology in Vienna, Austria. PROMETRA
International has official memorandum of agreements for education
and research with the Morehouse School of Medicine in USA and
Medical University of South Africa (MEDUSA). His greatest desire is
for traditional and modern western medicine to work hand in hand to
help maintain and restore the health of the peoples of Africa – and
of the world.
Dr. Gbodossou has
authored numerous publications on traditional medicine with his
recent books, The African Concept from God to Man: An
Introduction to African Spiritualism and Symbolism of
Sacrifice in the Communion and Communication with Transcendence
published in 2004. Recent submissions to the UNAIDS AIDS in Africa:
Three scenarios to 2025, Blair Report of the Commission on Africa,
and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals outline advocacy
positions of PROMETRA International on the role of traditional
medicine. He was named one of 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 21st
Century by the International Bibliographical Centre of Cambridge,
England. He has been the recipient of several international awards
and honors including Knight of the National Order of the Lion of
Senegal, a USAID Certificate of Distinction awarded by the US
Ambassador to Senegal, the Certificate of Distinction of the
Association of Black Psychiatrists of America, the Certificate of
Distinction and faculty appointment in the Morehouse School of
Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia and medals of honor from the
governments of South Africa, Burkina Faso and Uganda.
www.prometra.org
Email:
prometra@prometra.org
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