Metaphysical and value underpinnings of traditional medicine in West Africa.
Peter F Omonzejele, Chukwugozie Maduka
Chinese journal of integrative medicine February 2011 DOI: 10.1007/s11655-011-0649-y (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Survey (questionnaire-based, with supplementary healer interviews) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Residents of urban Benin City and rural Ehime Mbano communities in Nigeria, plus traditional healers interviewed |
| Key findings | Women and older persons reported greater recourse to traditional medicine than other groups in both rural and urban areas, and Christians, less educated, self-employed persons, and women most strongly affirmed traditional medicine's efficacy over Western medicine for certain ailments. Healers reportedly distinguish spiritual from other ailments via divination, dream interpretation, and omens, and treat with herbs, sacrifices, incantations, and protective medicine. |
Abstract
This study investigated the extent to which recourse to traditional healers depended on biometric variables; ways of knowing in good time what ailments were more likely to be better handled by traditional healers; rationale behind traditional healing methodologies. On the whole, four research questions were engaged. The sample for the study included residents in urban (Benin City) and rural (Ehime Mbano) communities in Nigeria. The instruments comprised of two questionnaires. The traditional healers were also interviewed in addition. The findings of the research included the following: in both rural and urban areas, women and more elderly persons had more recourse than other groups to traditional medicine; Christians, less educated persons, self-employed persons and women affirmed most strongly to the efficacy of traditional medicine over Western medicine with respect to certain ailments; ways for averting spiritual illnesses included obeying instructions from ancestors and offering regular sacrifices to the gods; methods used by traditional healers to determine whether an ailment was "spiritual" or as a result of home problems included diagnosis linked to divination, interpretation of dreams particularly those involving visits by ancestors, interpretation of nightmares and omens such as the appearance of owls; methods for curing patients included use of herbs particularly those believed to have magical powers, offering of sacrifices, use of incantations and wearing of protective medicine.