Folk wisdom

Folkwisdom If the only reason for making use of tra- ditional healers within the health services were the chronic short- age of conventionally trained health work- ers, this would be jus- tification enough. lt has long been ap- parent that there can never be enough physicians to serve all the world's population-even if those physicians were neatly distributed around the countryside and not, as they are, concentrated in the main towns. The same is true of nurses, dentists, all branches of health personnel. 1t makes good sense, therefore, to take advantage of these experienced practition- ers of traditional healing who exist in most societies, whether they are called healers, shamans, curanderos, wise women, med- icine men, traditional birth attendants or even witch-doctors. lt is to these helpers that the great majority of people in developing countries ( and many people in industrialised countries) turn first in time of sickness. Too often, the health clinic or hospital seems remote, alarming, staffed by strangers. The healers may be the sons and grandsons-or daughters and grand- daughters-of healers; their skills and practices are familiar to the local people, who therefore have boundless . faith in them. Certainly traditional healers have some- times to be weaned away from positively harmful practices-the casting of malign spells, female circumcision,, or applying cow-dung to the umbilicus of a new-born baby. But if they can subsequently be encouraged to learn some new habits, such as washing their hands before deliv- ering a baby or inspecting a wound, then here is a ready-made army of willing and valuable health workers. But this is not the whole story. Medical science seems ever more ready to acknow- ledge that traditional medicine embodies a rich treasure-house of folk wisdom. Hand- ed down through the ages, from one generation to the next, this body of know- ledge ranges from the complex systems such as Ayurveda, Unani and traditional Chinese medicine to simple home rem- edies based on wild plants and herbs. Today, determined efforts are under way to understand how certain ancient practices do succed where "modern" medicine may not, and to analyse the active ingredients of decoctions and oint- 8 ments made from plants which have been proved to possess curative or preventive properties. Just one example among many is the Biomedical Research Unit on Traditional and Herbal Medicine in Mexico City, which is now integrated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security, and is a recog- nised WHO Collaborating Centre. The unit is engaged in intensive pharmacological, chemical and botanical research into plants which were known to the Aztecs, the Mayans and other earlier civilisations. lt makes use of liquid and gas chromato- graphy; magnetic resonance and even radio isotopes to separate and identify the active ingredients of healing herbs. The findings are stored in a computerised data · bank, which cross-refers botanical names, popular names, the methods of use, the part of the plant used and the diseases treated. There is yet another reason for taking the older forms of medicine "seriously " . Dr R. H. Bannerman wrote in World Health Forum (Vol. 3, No. 1) last year: "lt seems paradoxical that, at a time when modern scientific medicine appears to be making such giant strictes and enjoying unparalleled prestige, so much interest should be taken in traditional medicine, in both developed and developing countries alike." And he suggested, among many motives underlying this interest, the fol- lowing: "Traditional practitioners in many parts of the world define life as the union of body, senses, mind and soul, and describe positive health as the blending of physical, mental, social, moral and spiritu- al welfare . The moral and spiritual aspects of life are here stressed, thus giving new dimensions to the system of health care by which man maintains his health." Alastair Anderson CD Herbai plants growing under controlled conditions at the pharmacognosy and horticulture field station of the University of Illinois, outside Chicago, USA. Photo WHO/J . Bland ® In Iran, a woman and a boy pick flowers for use in a "tea" which is said to have healing properties. Photo L. Sirman c ® Technicians in a Chinese traditional pharmacy carefully weigh the herbai and plant ingredients before making them into prescrip- tion medicines. PhotoWHO/D. Henrioud © At a traditional medicine centre in Africa, patients fine up to receive decoctions for various ailments. Photo WHO/R. c. da Silva @ Mass production methods at a processing plant for Ayurvedic drugs not far from Coimbatore, India. Photo WHO/A. s. Kochar