African Traditional Medicine encompasses the diverse healing practices of sub-Saharan Africa. It views health holistically, integrating physical, mental, spiritual, and social dimensions. The rich botanical pharmacopoeia of the African continent provides a vast repository of medicinal plants, many still awaiting scientific investigation.
Ask about this tradition13
Conditions
12
Treatments
32
Evidence Records
12
Sources Used
Knowledge transmitted through apprenticeship, dreams, and ancestral calling. No written canonical texts in traditional form.
Comprehensive ethnobotanical documentation of African medicinal plants
Framework for integration of African traditional medicine into healthcare systems
Throwing of divination bones (amathambo) or shells to communicate with ancestors about the cause and treatment of illness (Sangoma practice).
Examination of the body, urine, stool, and skin. Inyanga (herbalist) approach focusing on physical symptoms and plant remedies.
Patient's and healer's dreams provide diagnostic information and treatment guidance from ancestral spirits.