Trends and challenges toward integration of traditional medicine in formal health-care system: Historical perspectives and appraisal of education curricula in Sub-Sahara Africa

The population residing Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) continues to suffer from communicable health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and various neglected tropical as well as non-communicable diseases. The disease burden is aggravated by shortage of medical personnel and medical supplies such as medical devices and minimal access to essential medicine. For long time, human beings through observation and practical experiences learned to use different plant species that led to the emergence of traditional medicine (TM) systems. The ancient Pharaonic Egyptian TM system is one of the oldest documented forms of TM practice in Africa and the pioneer of world’s medical science. However, the medical practices diffused very fast to other continents being accelerated by advancement of technologies while leaving Africa lagging behind in the integration of the practice in formal health-care system. Challenging issues that drag back integration is the development of education curricula for training TM experts as the way of disseminating the traditional medical knowledge and practices imbedded in African culture. The few African countries such as Ghana managed to integrate TM products in the National Essential Medicine List while South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania have TM products being sold over the counters due to the availability of education training programs facilitated by research. This paper analyses the contribution of TM practice and products in modern medicine and gives recommendations that Africa should take in the integration process to safeguard the SSA population from disease burdens.