Handbook of African Medicinal Plants

Handbook of African Medicinal Plants

Author: Maurice M. Iwu

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 1466571985

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With over 50,000 distinct species in sub-Saharan Africa alone, the African continent is endowed with an enormous wealth of plant resources. While more than 25 percent of known species have been used for several centuries in traditional African medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases, Africa remains a minor player in the global natural


Toxicological Survey of African Medicinal Plants

Toxicological Survey of African Medicinal Plants

Author: Victor Kuete

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2014-05-30

Total Pages: 742

ISBN-13: 0128004754

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Toxicological Survey of African Medicinal Plants provides a detailed overview of toxicological studies relating to traditionally used medicinal plants in Africa, with special emphasis on the methodologies and tools used for data collection and interpretation. The book considers the physical parameters of these plants and their effect upon various areas of the body and human health, including chapters dedicated to genotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and specific organs and systems.Following this discussion of the effects of medicinal plants is a critical review of the guidelines and methods in use for toxicological research as well as the state of toxicology studies in Africa. With up-to-date research provided by a team of experts, Toxicological Survey of African Medicinal Plants is an invaluable resource for researchers and students involved in pharmacology, toxicology, phytochemistry, medicine, pharmacognosy, and pharmaceutical biology. - Offers a critical review of the methods used in toxicological survey of medicinal plants - Provides up-to-date toxicological data on African medicinal plants and families - Serves as a resource tool for students and scientists in the various areas of toxicology


Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa

Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa

Author: Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-12-29

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 9004436421

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In Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta and Tabi Chama-James Tabenyang unpack the contentious South African government’s post-apartheid policy framework of the ‘‘return to tradition policy’’. The conjuncture between deep sociopolitical crises, witchcraft, the ravaging HIV/AIDS pandemic and the government’s initial reluctance to adopt antiretroviral therapy turned away desperate HIV/AIDS patients to traditional healers. Drawing on historical sources, policy documents and ethnographic interviews, Pemunta and Tabenyang convincingly demonstrate that despite biomedical hegemony, patients and members of their therapy-seeking group often shuttle between modern and traditional medicine, thereby making both systems of healthcare complementary rather than alternatives. They draw the attention of policy-makers to the need to be aware of ‘‘subaltern health narratives’’ in designing health policy.


The Professionalisation of African Medicine

The Professionalisation of African Medicine

Author: Murray Last

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-09-03

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 0429816111

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Originally published in 1986, this book draws upon a range of authors to reflect wide interest in systematising traditional medicine, and to include material on significant instances of regulation or organisation. It was the first book to study the efforts of traditional healers and their newly formed professional associations and as such constitutes a pioneering collection of sources. Because of the changing position of traditional medicine it may well also be a unique record: before long what is described here will largely have disappeared.


African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine

African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine

Author: M. Akin Makinde

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13:

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For over two centuries, Western scholars have discussed African philosophy and culture, often in disparaging, condescending terms, and always from an alien European perspective. Many Africans now share this perspective, having been trained in the western, empirical tradition. Makinde argues that, particularly in view of the costs and failings of western style culture, Africans must now mold their own modern culture by blending useful western practices with valuable indigenous African elements. Specifically, Makinde demonstrates the potential for the development of African philosophy and even African traditional medicine. Following the lead of a number of countries with government policies of incorporating indigenous medicine with orthodox Western medicine, Makinde argues that traditional African practices should be taken seriously, both medically and scientifically. Further, he charges African scholars with the responsibility of investigating these and other elements of traditional African culture in order to dispel their mystery and secrecy through modern research and useful publications.


Bodies, Politics, and African Healing

Bodies, Politics, and African Healing

Author: Stacey A. Langwick

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2011-06-23

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 025300196X

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This subtle and powerful ethnography examines African healing and its relationship to medical science. Stacey A. Langwick investigates the practices of healers in Tanzania who confront the most intractable illnesses in the region, including AIDS and malaria. She reveals how healers generate new therapies and shape the bodies of their patients as they address devils and parasites, anti-witchcraft medicine, and child immunization. Transcending the dualisms between tradition and science, culture and nature, belief and knowledge, Langwick tells a new story about the materiality of healing and postcolonial politics. This important work bridges postcolonial theory, science, public health, and anthropology.


Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society

Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society

Author: Kwasi Konadu

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415803335

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At the turn of the 20th century, African societies witnessed the suppression of indigenous healing specialists as missionary proselytization and colonial rule increased. Governments, medical practitioners and academics focused little attention or resources on the production of "traditional" medicine, despite its potential use for advancing health care delivery to millions of people in rural communities and providing the basis for a medicinal industry. Focusing on the case of Ghana, Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society investigates the ways in which healers and indigenous archives of cultural knowledge conceptualize and interpret medicine and healing. In order to unearth these prevailing concepts, Konadu utilizes in-depth interviews, plant samples, material culture, linguistics, and other sources. This groundbreaking study of indigenous knowledge has important implications for the study of medical and knowledge systems in Africa and the African Diaspora worldwide. By closely examining a range of multidisciplinary sources and utilizing fieldwork in the Takyiman district of central Ghana, the book contributes a new dimension to the study of health and healing systems in the African context and offers scholars, students, and general readers a vital reference.


Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Author: Cengiz Mordeniz

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2019-12-11

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1789841836

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Modern medicine has reached a point where the patient is not treated as a biopsychosocial-spiritual being but rather is seen as a virtual identity consisting of laboratory findings and images. More focus is placed on relieving the symptoms instead of curing the disease. Mostly, patients are turned into lifetime medication-dependent individuals. New medicines are needed to overcome the side effects, complications, resistance, and intolerance caused by pharmacological and interventional therapies. In hopes of drug-free and painless alternative treatments with fewer complications, there has been a trend to revisit traditional methods that have been dismissed by modern medicine. Traditional medicine has to be reevaluated with modern scientific methods to complement and integrate with evidence-based modern medicine.