Indigenous medicine among the Dagaaba of North-Western Ghana

Abstract

This study pays attention to indigenous medicine practices and healing among the Dagaaba of North-Western Ghana. Based on Dagaaba's theories of traditional medicine and qualitative sources of data, we confirm and further argue that the indigenous traditional medicine systems within the Dagaaba/Dagara society contain multifaceted dimensions. For centuries, these multifaceted dimensions have been a sweet interplay of herbal, spiritual and specialists, such as bone-setters in the local medical milieu. We further argue that a study such as this gives room for further contemplation by policy makers concerning traditional knowledge/ethnoknowledge in the area of medicine and healthcare in Ghana and North-Western Ghana in particular.