knowledge, attitudes and beliefs that are prevalent in the community
regarding physical, mental and social well-being and the causation of
disease and disability’. This definition underscores two key elements of
TMP, i.e. its holistic approach and the fact that TPs are accorded their status
by the communities that they serve.
According to Kokwaro:^3
... traditional medicine is the sum total of all the knowledge and
practices, whether explicable or not, used in diagnosis, prevention
and elimination of physical, mental or social imbalance and relying
exclusively on practical experience and observation handed down
from generation to generation, whether verbally or in writing... a
solid amalgamation of dynamic medical know-how and ancestral
experience. Traditional African medicine is also considered to be the
sum total of practices, measures, ingredients and procedures of all
84 |Traditional medicine
Figure 5.2 Africa: main vegetation zones. Published with the permission of the Africa Institute of
South Africa.