THE POTENCY OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN A CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: A CASE STUDY OF ILE-IFE (original) (raw)

ABSTRACT Existing studies revealed that Traditional Medicine, which had been the major means of treating ailments in Yoruba land from the time immemorial, had suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of the current scientific development. Besides, the derogatory names given to this therapy by the educated people and the growth of hospitals, dispensaries, clinics and maternity centres had made the traditional medicine to suffer a declining patronage. Consequently, the patronage of this medicine is gradually becoming the affairs of the poor masses who could not afford the orthodox hospital bills. It is against this background that the study aimed at evaluating the potency of traditional medicine and examine its relevance to the contemporary society especially in the curing of seemingly incurable diseases. The choice of Ile-Ife as a case study was informed by the fact that Ile-Ife is the acclaimed ancestral home of the Yoruba people, it therefore represented other Yoruba communities. In order to achieve this aim, primary and secondary sources were employed in eliciting information for this work. They were manifested in the fieldwork involving in-depth interview, group discussion and observation. Interviews were conducted with various categories of people in the town. The people include: Artisans, Christians, Muslims, patients who had experience traditional healing and the herbalists themselves. About 75% of the people interviewed were of the opinion that traditional medicine is potent and still relevant to the contemporary society. The bulk of the secondary data were obtained through the use of libraries and internet materials. Through fieldwork research survey, the efficacy and potency of African traditional medicine was revealed on aliments such as hypertension, infertility, stroke and cancer which can only be managed by orthodox medicine. More importantly, it was gathered through the in-depth interview that collaborative efforts on the part of government, educated elites, etc are necessary to revive African traditional medicine. This study recommended that; to enjoy full benefit of traditional medicine, both indigenous and modern medical practitioners must respect their areas of strength and accept their areas of weaknesses. The work therefore concluded on the note that African Traditional Medicine should be recognized as one of the major solutions to health challenges. It should not be a ‘rejection’ of modernity and we should not neglect African Indigenous Medicine because orthodox Medicine is now available. Keywords: Potency, Traditional, Medicine, Orthodox, Treatment