A Discourse on Individuals Value for Herbal Medicine in Asante since the Pre-Colonial Era

Abstract

This study highlights the transitions that indigenous medicine and indigenous medical practices have undergone in Asante. It uses a qualitative approach anchored on both primary and secondary sources. The primary data sources include interviews and documentary data derived from reports in historical archives. Anchored on rational choice contingent upon social change, it reviewed existing literature. It filters the transitions that herbal medicine in particular has undergone from the earliest times to the twenty-first century. The responses from interviewees and experts were corroborated with secondary sources. It highlighted the fact that indigenous medicine and herbal medicine in particular have seen changes over time and have been perceived differently at different times. It concludes that based on the evolving government policies on herbal medicine; it is anticipated that it will have a glowing future in Ghana and its full-fledged integration with the orthodox system in a modern healthcare setting is attainable. To achieve this end, the rational choice of practitioners in the herbal medicine milieu should be to build a formidable interest group that can influence government policy in their favour.