Collaboration of indigenous African and biomedical practices in the provision of health services

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is knowledge that is kept in the minds of people and is expressed in their daily lives. Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) are part of the cultural heritage that has been accumulated over the years and passed from one generation to the next. It is also expressed in their healing practices. During the apartheid government in South Africa little attention was paid to indigenous African medicine (IAM) but African people continued to utilize the services of indigenous African doctors (IADs) to meet their health needs. The World health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of African people continue to use indigenous African medicine (IAM) as their primary form of health care. Patients use IAM for health maintenance, treatment or prevention of minor ailments as well as serious and chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to advocate for a collaborated health care delivery system that includes both IADs and biomedical doctors in the provision of health care. The Afrocentric qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach was used and a non- probability, purposive sampling method was used to obtain a sample size of fifteen (15) IADs. Semi structured interviews were used to collect data until saturation was reached. Data were analysed qualitatively by means of the open coding method. Findings revealed one major theme namely indigenous African medicine and the categories included the origin and nature of IAM, belief system in IAM, the influence of apartheid on IAM, health system that people rely on and the health system used in the prevention of diseases. Recommendations were suggested in order to support the collaboration of indigenous African and biomedical practices in the provision of health services.

Keywords: Indigenous African medicine, indigenous African doctors.

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD) Vol. 18, No. 2 (June) 2012, pp. 213-227