Sustaining Tradition and Fulfilling Agreements on Traditional Medicine Since the Alma Ata Conference

Introduction: The implementation of traditional medicine strategies and their integration into the mainstream health systems by African governments has been a difficult process since its recommendation at the Alma Ata Conference of 1978. Objective: This paper seeks to review how traditional medicine has survivedand what various African countries have done to implement traditional healthcare strategies and their integration into the national health systems as recommended by the Alma Alta conference of 1978. Methodology: We purposively selected developed, middle income and African countries for the purpose of this review.We reviewed traditional medicine policies and programs in elevenpurposively selected countries from different political and economic blocks. We conducted a review of published works on traditional medicine implementation with more focus on the African continent. We have used the historical and thematic perspectives to obtain, organize and report data from published documents. Results: There is the public use of traditional medicine in every African country at very high proportions. African governments celebrate African Traditional Medicine Days. But very few African countries have fully implemented Alma Ata recommended traditional medicine strategies and integrated traditional medicine into their national health systems to the latter. Strong adherence to tradition has kept traditional medicine in African alive. However, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has revealed strong adherence of Africans and their governments to African Traditional Medicine. But the developed world sticks to standard conventional medical practices. This reverence is an acknowledgment of the truism that rather than integrating African medicine into conventional medicine, proponents of African medicine would want to operate parallel to conventional medicine or integrate it into the African medical system. Conclusion: African medicine exists in Africa as a culturally bound practice, therefore, providing solutions to health problems in situations where conventional medicine may not. It exists on its own without a real and strong legal framework to guide its practice because of its conflicting parallel validation methods to conventional medicine.

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