African Medicine

Introduction

In the African continent, the practice of traditional healing and magic is much older than some of the other conventional medical sciences. It appears to be significantly more widespread in comparison to general medicine.

Traditional African medicine is the oldest of all therapeutic systems, and perhaps the most assorted. Africa is regarded as the cradle of humanity with a rich biological and cultural diversity characterized by cultural differences in healing practices.

African traditional medicine is a variation of a holistic system of healthcare that is classified into three specialty groups, including divination, spiritualism and herbalism, although some may be overlapping.

Perhaps the oldest and most varied of all therapeutic systems is the use of medicinal plants as a central segment of the African traditional healthcare system.

Traditional healers furnishing medicinal plants are the most accessible and affordable health resource available to the local community in many parts of rural Africa, and sometimes the only surviving therapy.

Traditional medicine is the combination of understanding, abilities, and procedures based on fundamental concepts, values, and feelings of distinct societies used to preserve health and to deter, diagnose, enhance or cure physical and mental illnesses.

Traditional medicine embraced by other communities (except for their indigenous culture) is often referred to as complementary or alternative medicine.

In the past, science has regarded traditional knowledge techniques as primitive and backward.

Under colonial rule, traditional diviner-healers were banned because many countries deemed them

practitioners of witchcraft and magic,and the colonial officials proclaimed them illegal,

establishing a conflict against elements of indigenous culture that were seen as witchcraft.

Attempts have also been produced during this moment to regulate the sale of herbal medicines.

Acacia senegal - Gum Arabic - The plant is highly valued for its potent effect in relieving pain and irritation. Acacia senegal is a multi-purpose tree that has been used for more than 4,000 years as food, human and veterinary medicine, and in art and crafts. The plant also has valuable use in aromatherapy.
Aloe ferox Mill. - Bitter Aloe or Cape Aloe - Aloe ferox is native to South Africa and Lesotho and is considered to be the most common Aloe species in South Africa. The bitter latex, known as Cape aloe, is used as laxative medicine in Africa and Europe and is considered to have bitter tonic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties,
Artemisia herba-alba Asso (Med)- Wormwood - A. herba-alba has been used in folk medicine by many cultures since ancient times. In Moroccan folk medicine, it is used to treat arterial hypertension and diabetes and in Tunisia, it is used to treat diabetes, bronchitis, diarrhea, hypertension, and neuralgias. Among the Bedouins of the Negev desert, it was found that A. herba-alba was used to mitigate stomach disorders.
Aspalathus linearis - Rooibos - an endemic South African fynbos species, is cultivated to produce the well-known herbal tea, also commonly known as rooibos. Rooibos is used traditionally throughout Africa in numerous ways. It has been used as a refreshment drink and as a healthy tea beverage
Centella Asiatica - Centella - Traditionally, C. asiatica is used mainly for wound healing, burns, ulcers, leprosy, tuberculosis, lupus, skin diseases, eye diseases, fever, inflammation, asthma, hypertension, rheumatism, syphilis, epilepsy, diarrhea, and mental illness and is also eaten as a vegetable or used as a spice.
Catharanthus roseus - Madagascar Periwinkle - is a well-known medicinal plant that has its root from the African continent. C. roseus originates from Madagascar but now has a wide distribution throughout the tropics, and the story on the traditional utilisation of this plant can be retraced to Madagascar where healers have been using it extensively to treat panoply of ailments. It is commonly used in traditional medicine as a bitter tonic, galactogogue, and emetic. Application for treatment of rheumatism, skin disorders, and venereal diseases has also been reported.

Cyclopia genistoides - Honeybush -Cyclopia genistoides is an indigenous herbal tea to South Africa and considered as a health food. Traditionally, the leafy shoots and flowers were fermented and dried to prepare tea. It has also been used since early times for its direct positive effects on the urinary system and is valued as a stomachic that aids weak digestion without affecting the heart.
Harpagophytum procumbens - Devil’s Claw - is native to the red sand areas in the Transvaal of South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia. It has spread throughout the Kalahari and Savannah desert regions. The indigenous San and Khoi peoples of Southern Africa have used Devil’s Claw medicinally for centuries, if not millennia.Traditional uses recorded include allergies, analgesia, anorexia, antiarrhythmic, antidiabetic, antiphlogistic, antipyretic, appetite stimulant, arteriosclerosis, bitter tonic, blood diseases, boils (topical), childbirth difficulties, choleretic, diuretic, climacteric (change of life) problems, dysmenorrhea, dyspepsia, edema, fever, fibromyalgia, fibrositis, gastrointestinal disorders, headache, heartburn, indigestion, liver and gall bladder tonic, malaria, migraines, myalgia, neuralgia, nicotine poisoning, sedative, skin cancer (topical), skin ulcers (topical), sores (topical), tendonitis, urinary tract infections, and vulnerary for skin injuries.
Momordica charantia Linn. - Bitter Melon - is a tropical vegetable grown throughout Africa. The leaf may be made into a tea called “cerassie,” and the juice, extracted from the various plant parts (fruit pulp, seeds, leaves, and whole plant), is very common folklore remedy for diabetes.
Pelargonium sidoides DC. - Umckaloabo - is native to the coastal regions of South Africa, and available ethnobotanical information shows that the tuberous P. sidoides is an important traditional medicine with a rich ethnobotanical history. Umckaloabo is a herbal remedy thought to be effective in the treatment of acute respiratory infections.

Since ancient times, medicinal plants have been an essential component of the African health caresystem.Interest in traditional medicine can be explained by the fact that it is an essential part of the culture of the people who use it and also because of the economic challenge: on the one hand, pharmaceutical drugs are not accessible to the poor, and on the other hand, the richness and diversity of African fauna and flora are an inexhaustible source of therapies for the vast array of diseases.

Amaranthus dubius - a flowering plant, also known as spleen amaranth
Amaranthus hybridus - commonly known as smooth pig-weed or slim amaranth
Amaranthus spinosus - also known as spiny amaranth
Asystasia gangetica - an ornamental, ground cover known as Chinese violet. Also used in Nigerian folk medicine for the management of asthma.
Centella asiatica - a small herbaceous annual plant commonly referred to as Asiatic pennywort
Ceratotheca triloba - a tall annual plant that flowers in summer sometimes referred to as poppy sue
Chenopodium albu - also called lamb's quarters, this is a weedy annual plant
Emex australi - commonly known as southern three corner jack
Galinsoga parviflora - commonly referred to as gallant soldier
Justicia flava - also known as yellow justicia and taken for coughs and treatment of fevers
Momordica balsamina - an African herbal traditional medicine also known as the balsam apple
Oxygonum sinuatum - an invasive weed with no common name
Physalis viscosa - known as starhair ground cherry
Senna occidentalis - a very leafy tropical shrub whose seeds have been used in coffee; called septic weed
Solanum nodiflorum - also known as white nightshade
Tulbaghia violacea - a bulbous plant with hairless leaves often referred to as society or wild garlic

Traditional African medicine includes herbalists, midwives, and diviners.

Diviners are accountable for determining the cause of the disease that is thought to have originated from ancient gods and other factors in some triggers..

Traditional midwives use indigenous crops extensively to help with childbirth.Herbalists are so common in Africa that between 700,000 and 900,000 traders a year from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique are said to attract a herbal industry in Durban. In nearly every society, smaller herbal markets exist.

Intervention of Gods

The healing act is considered a religious act in African cultures. The healing process, therefore, also tries to appeal to God because it is truly God who can not only induce illness, but also provide a cure.Africans have a religious world view, which makes them aware of the feasibility of divine or spirit intervention in healing with many practitioners referring to the supreme God as the source of their curative power. Ancient African healing methods are well into their development before the history of Western civilizations recorded their accounts.

As a culture, they predate all known written records, which makes it difficult to ascertain actual dates or knowledge known during specific periods. Oral traditions passed down medical knowledge and practices through the centuries, from within one family, clan, or tribe to the next generation.

Nonetheless, despite ongoing extensive and mechanism-oriented assessment of African flora medicinal plants, there is still a lack of literature from the last decade's research into processes for quality assurance, authentication, and standardization of crude plant products to be adopted.