PROMOTING THE USE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN THE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF AFRICA UNDP Grant: INT/03/901/A/14/71Grantee: PROMETRA International Sponsored by: Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries One United Nations Plaza New York, NY USA 10017 www.undp.org Director – Safiatou Ba-N’Daw Program Officer – Denis Nkala Involved PROMETRA chapters PROMETRA Benin PROMETRA Burkina-Faso PROMETRA Ghana PROMETRA Guinea-Bissau PROMETRA Senegal
According to WHO, as many as eighty percent (80%) of the world’s population rely on traditional medicine (TM) and indigenous knowledge for meeting their primary health care needs. In Sub-Saharan Africa this figure is believed to be much higher as most used TM for health care needs instead of conventional approaches. One reason is because Sub-Sahara African is a region where poverty levels are among the highest and few can afford access to the exorbitantly priced health care services; modern medicine and practitioners are simply not available and there are also customs and practices that contribute to the TM choices. As a result most depend on TM for all their health care and health education needs. Although the role of TM is well recognized, in Sub-Sahara Africa it is currently not part of the formal health care system as is evidenced elsewhere in other regions. There is need for quality scientific research into the efficacy of traditional medicine therapies, the need for effective advocacy and progressive public policy for the region to benefit from the full health and development potential of traditional medicine. Specific Project Objectives: To build a bridge between African traditional medicine and modern medicine throughout the continent of Africa To work specifically in four (4) African nations of Benin, Burkina Faso Ghana and Guinea Bissau to develop a framework for the inclusion of traditional medicine into the government sponsored health care system To move toward legalization of traditional medicine To incorporate recognized, credible traditional medicine practices into the official health care structure of each nation To remove and persecute charlatans and their practices To promote traditional medicine scientific research To work with project partners – World Health Organization (WHO), AFRO, African Intellectual Property Rights Organization (OAPI), Ford Foundation and others to develop a best practices framework document on collaboration between African traditional medicine and western medicine that will be adopted by the majority of African states To host a technical working group meeting of traditional medicine organizations, African ministries of health, collaboration experts, NEPAD representatives and donors to implement action plan for framework documentation implementation continent wide. To share best practices from countries where traditional medicine is recognized, legal and component of national health care system (China, India, Vietnam, etc) and to increase south to south collaboration on the issues of health care access To conduct a research project that would analyze the utilization, referral and collaboration rates between traditional health and public health dispensaries in the Fatick region of Senegal To demonstrate gaps and missed opportunities in the interactions between traditional medicine and public health nurses/physicians To have joint training and sensitization training sessions between traditional healers and public health nurses/physicians To use the results of this research project as a basis for advocacy for improving the official relationships between traditional and modern medicine throughout Africa
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