Traditional Herbalists, Healers Back in Vogue

A surge in medicine prices is driving some Africans back to the traditional herbalists and healers they once shunned for Western cures.

Homeopathic cures have long been the mainstay for most people in black Africa, where most people cannot afford commercial medical care and prescription drugs.

What little access there was to Western-style care was set back a year ago when 14 West African nations halved the value of their shared currency, driving up prices for imported medicines.

“Now more than ever, they are going to go to traditional healers and try to treat themselves.” said Christine Kouamelan, pharmacist and president of the National Syndicate of Private Pharmacists in Ivory Coast.

Christophe Some, a 30-year-old who earns 45,000 African francs ($90) a month as a domestic worker in Abidjan, is an example.

When his wife, Yvette, suffered a miscarriage, he could barely afford the prescribed antibiotics. When she began bleeding constantly, he could not afford additional medical treatment, including an ultrasound examination that would have cost more than half his monthly pay.

So he sent her “back to the village for traditional treatment.” That included hot clay poultices, herbs and massages. Some said the bleeding stopped after three weeks and his wife recovered.

Herbalists or traditional healers get their cures from the plants of the forests, plains and savannas. Such potions have an aura of mystery, with the formulas handed down through generations and predating modern medicines.

African doctors who practice Western medicine and traditional healers often have been at odds, but they increasingly are finding common ground.

Dr. Archibald Badoe, a surgeon in a private clinic in Abidjan, said African doctors should try to incorporate traditional treatments and herbal cures into their work.

“With the proper controls, of course,” he added.