Documentation and Use of Indigenous Knowledge by Practitioners of Alternative Healthcare in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the role of alternative health practitioners in primary healthcare delivery in Oyo State. It is aimed at determining the documentation and use of indigenous knowledge in primary healthcare by practitioners of alternative healthcare given the dearth of scholarly works in this area in library and information studies. The descriptive survey research design and stratified random sampling techniques were used for the study. The study reveals that practitioners of alternative healthcare use indigenous knowledge in the provision of primary healthcare in treating various health challenges including maternal healthcare and HIV/AIDS, documenting their indigenous knowledge through the forms of writing in books, audio recording, video taping, drawing, photographing and story telling. Adequate documentation of indigenous knowledge in various formats that can make it accessible for use in managing diseases has significant implications for facilitating alternative healthcare’s access to the different therapeutic uses of the indigenous knowledge in their healthcare delivery efforts in Oyo State. It is recommended that further studies can be carried out on the storage and retrieval of indigenous knowledge, as well as dissemination and transfer of indigenous knowledge by practitioners of alternative health in primary healthcare.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, documentation, primary healthcare, alternative health practitioners, Nigeria