Recognition and Integration of Traditional Medicine in Ghana A Perspective

Abstract

The paper examines the processes of recognition and legitimization of traditional medicine in Ghana and indicates that in Ghana, indigenous
medicine has been used as an instrument to help develop political consensus and consciousness and in the building of a national identity. The Ghanaian government recognizes traditional medicine and has a policy for the integration of indigenous medicine; the paper shows that the policy limits traditional medicine almost exclusively to herbal products and the scientific elements of it without taking in to consideration its other dimensions of treating illnesses. Thus the policy leads to bureaucratization of traditional medicine. The paper calls for a policy of integration that will promote a parallel and full development of both orthodox and indigenous therapeutic traditions to enable them to continue to provide the health care needs of the people.