Perspectives on the Status of traditional medicine in Tanzania

Authors : Ernest S KİRA, Sotco C KOMBA

Pages : 21-31

View : 19 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2012-11-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article entails student teachers’ perceptions of the status of traditional medicine in Tanzania. A broad focus group discussion was held with 50 student teachers taking Bachelor of Science with education at the Dar es Salaam University College of education in Tanzania. However, such student teachers’ responses were merged with interview responses from regular teachers, elders, customers of traditional medicine and traditional healers from both Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions. Findings indicated that all respondents appreciated the existence of the African traditional medicine alongside the modern ones. However, it seemed that the modern medicines are far more popular than traditional ones especially in towns and cities. Although the respondents admitted to have heard and or witnessed some cases where some modern medicines proved failure but managed by traditional medicine, very few believed so. This could be attributed to a scenario that only a small proportion of the respondents grew in environments conducive for using traditional medicine. Hence, it was concluded that, future plans that focus on integrating some important aspects of the African traditional medicine in the formal school curriculum can serve dual purposes of improving people’s health and enhancing biodiversity conservation strategies for both rural and urban societies. 
Keywords : African traditional medicine, biodiversity, school curriculum