The traditional healing practices in Africa

RUNNING HEAD: TRADITINAL HEALING PPRACTICES IN AFRICA
African Healing Tradition
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TRADITINAL HEALING PPRACTICES IN AFRICA
Discussion:
Researches on the healing practices of various regions are an indicator of the level of
consciousness and their perceived notions towards various natural effects. African traditional
healthcare makes an extensive use of the medicinal plants as their fundamental ways of healing
common diseases. It has been found out by the researchers that in the various parts of rural
Africa, the healers often prescribes such medical plants that are easily accessible to them and are
affordable for the people who are economically marginalised. Mika Vahankangas researched
about Tanzanian Ambilikile Mwasapila aka Babu wa Loliondo, a retired Lutheran countryside
pastor who claimed to knew the uses and benefits of several medicinal plants (Vähäkangas,
2015). With his growing popularity as a result of patients being healed successfully, he became
a well known figure in Media and the Bishops were also in favour of him. With the quest of
cultivating the truth, Mika researched further and came to knew this magical power of the man
was vanished after the death of many HIV patient in the area. The biodiversity of Africa offers
an optimum number of unknown plans that may have some medicinal values. According the
researchers, the economic condition of the rural Tanzanians had forced them to apply those in the
hour of maladies. Such practices may have been transferred from generations to generations
where in the personal assumptions and beliefs have taken a turn of faith.
Rebecca Mersland researched on the traditional beliefs of the people of rural Africa
regarding the usage of the biomedicines and the medicinal plants (Marsland, 2007). The local
people according to Rebecca have developed the view that the treatment using medicine is
modern approach and that the usage of the medicinal healing plants are traditional approach.
Framing their practices in terms of competition for business between both mission medicine and