Examples of traditional African Medicine

Plants have been used medicinally long before recorded history.  During ancient times, our ancestors understood that Mother Earth contained all that our bodies needed to achieve optimum wellness. The ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) people left to their decendents papyrus writings that describe the medicinal uses for plants as early as 3,000 BC.  The Ancient Chinese people have a legacy of healing modalities that are still popular today. All indigenous cultures used herbs in their healing rituals, in conjunction with developing traditional medical systems. Researchers have found that people in different parts of the world tended to use the same or similar plants for the same purposes.  So the question becomes, “When did the way we heal ourselves change?”.  It begain during the 19th century when chemical analysis first became available. Scientists began to extract and modify the active ingredients from plants.  Chemists then began making their own version of plant compounds and, over time, the use of herbal medicines declined in favor of drugs. Almost one fourth of pharmaceutical drugs are derived from botanicals.

Recently, the World Health Organization estimated that 80% of people worldwide rely on herbal medicines for some part of their primary health care.  Are your taking advantage of the Earth Medicine that is available to you?