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Home , Pedanius Dioscorides, Unani medicine

Meaning of Traditional / Medicine: Traditional are those medicines which are imbibed with a variety of characteristics. It is indigenous to the people who use it and is part of the wider belief system that is prevalent in the community. Knowledge on traditional medicines can be gathered by the study of the history i.e. the history of disease and illness. Traditional medicines exist in different parts of the world. In USA it is referred to as the Complementary and (CAM) or non conventional medicines.

Though it is very difficult to define the concept of but a few noted scholars as well as noted institutions tried to define the concept in their own way-- the South African Traditional Health Practitioners Act defines Traditional Health Practice as “the performance of a function, activity, process, or service based on a traditional philosophy that uses indigenous African techniques and principles that include traditional medicines or practices, including the physical or mental preparation of an individual for puberty, adulthood, pregnancy, childbirth (sexual and reproductive health), and death” (Act 22, p. 5) (Cited, Muweh, 2011). Though this definition is considered to be very narrow in nature, the World Health Organization (WHO) traditional medicine is—

“Traditional Medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illnesses”.

Therefore, traditional medicines involve a wide variety of natural products which is involved for herbal treatments of human beings. One can divide the traditional medicines into two parts—

Firstly, medical therapies, which involves the use of , for example, herbal . It generally includes the traditional African medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and Unani medicine.

Secondly, non medication therapies i.e. referred to therapies based on the traditional processes. It doesn’t include the therapies which do not use medications internally, for example, , , and meditation therapies.

Systems of traditional medicine in World Regions: There are various systems of traditional medicines which exists in different parts of the world. A few systems of traditional medicines are firstly, . Ayurveda is an ancient system of Hindu medicine. It means “the science of life‟. It dates back to the 10th century BC. It is mainly practiced in South Asia, which includes, Bangladesh, , Nepal, , and Sri Lanka. It is used as a system of medicine as well as a method to cure and prevent diseases among the people. Secondly, Chiropractic system of traditional medicine. It was practiced in the 19th century by the therapeutic practice of Iowa. It is based on the association between the spine as well as the nervous system which thereby acts as the self healing properties of the human body. Thirdly, the system of homeopathy. It is a system of belief that (the father of medicine) was the first person to use homeopathy. Homeopathy comes from two Greek words; „‘homeo’’ which means similar and „‘pathos’’ which means suffering (or disease by extension). In homeopathy, rather than combating the disease directly as in biomedicine, the treatment in this system of traditional

medicine is intended to arouse the body to battle the disease. Fourthly, the unani system of traditional medicine. The Unani system of healing is based on four bodily humours; blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. According to the Unani system, disease is the result of an imbalance in the four bodily humours. It is also known as Arabic medicine as it is practiced in China, India, Egypt, Iraq, Iran1. Fifthly, traditional African medicine. Africa has a rich bio-diversity of medicinal products which leads to the healing of the individuals. People who know the medicinal values of the and the herbs are generally looked up in the African society.

The report of the regional overview in the WHO African region (AFR) there is only 50% of the population who has access to essential while the other 80% continue to rely on African traditional medicines (ATRM). It mainly includes , spiritual therapies and manual therapies. It can be also seen that in USA, among the 35 WHO member states (AMR) (it has a high percentage of indigenous population) and 60% of the world’s biodiversity uses traditional medicine through folk healers such as herbalists, masseurs, and spiritual therapists. In South East Asian region (SEAR), Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy, yoga, , Tibetan medicine, medicine, Thai medicine and Koryo medicine are the most demanding medical systems among the people. It is estimated that 70─80% of the population use traditional medicines. In Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR), traditional medicine is divided among popular knowledge, healers/oral traditions, codified systems among the 22 member states. EMR has developed guidelines for registration of herbal products and technical guidelines for safety, efficacy and quality control of herbal medicines since 2003. Unani, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Chinese medicine, chiropractic, osteopathy, naturopathy, spiritual therapy, , and are some of the prevalent practices apart from the folk medicines and other popular knowledge. Therefore, in almost all the regions of the world, “bio- medicalization” is taking place.

Traditional medicine and their health impacts: Healing through has been a matter of interest for mankind since time unknown. It is believed that it was the people of Mesopotamia who were the first to use the herbs like oils of cypress, cedar, liquorice and poppy juice for treating various ailments in 2600 B.C. the Buddhist system of medicine is known as “gSo-ba Rig-pa” which is mainly practiced in Bhutan, Tibet and Mongolia and is around 2500 years old and its notes the use of 2200 traditional prescription drugs. Around 1500 BC, the Egyptian’s developed the Ebers papyrus which listed at around 700 drugs including things like-- gargles, snuffs, poultices, infusions, pills and ointments. The Chinese Wu-Shi Er-Bing Fang lists around 52 prescriptions which dates back to 1100BC. Ayurveda emerged in India around 1000 BC which records the use of plants like datura, , canabis and sarcostemma. In 78 AD, Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek produced , which elaborated more than 500 medicinal plants and their related uses. People from all around the world are teaching the uses of herbal medicines to the others so that the benefits of medicinal plants in healing individuals can be achieved by people around the world. In the USA, homeopathy that includes hydrotherapy, nutritional therapy, herbal therapy, manual manipulation and midwifery, which were founded by German physician Hahnemann (1755-18-

1 (www.lifemojo.com)

43), became popular in 1830s. The National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) was established at the National Institute of Health, USA in the 1990s to independently develop and support research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The NCCAM categorized seven forms of therapies practiced worldwide such as mind-body interventions, bio-electromagnetic therapies, alternative systems of medical practice, manual healing methods, pharmacological and biological treatments, herbal medicine and diet and nutrition. (Cited, Wangchuk, 2008) The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines in the beginning of the 20th century made a major change in the medical practice worldwide. It also led to the emergence of the field of ethno- medicine as an independent academic field which focuses on the traditional healing systems. According to the health estimates provided by WHO, WHO estimates show that 75% of the French population, 30% of the Vietnamese population, and 40% of Indonesia’s population uses traditional medicines; 77% of pain provide acupuncture in Germany and 72% of registered western style doctors uses medicine in Japan. In Bhutan, traditional medicine is an integral part of the health care delivery system. Almost 100% of Hospitals and some Basic Health Units provide traditional medical services. (Cited, Wangchuk, 2008)

Thus, development in the sphere of health is taking place as time passes by. Researches are taking place to analyze the impact of the traditional medicines on the human beings.

Modernity in traditional medicine: The notion of modernity in traditional medicine has been a topic of concern for several years by medical practitioners. People who believe in the allopathic medical system are many a times skeptical about the use of traditional medical products. Modernity in traditional medicine could be thought about as a „„marriage‟‟ between modern medicine and traditional medicine (Cited, Muweh 2011). It acts as the transition or from the primitive method of traditional medicine (where witchcraft is sued for the healing of the individuals) and to treat patients of their ailments in a scientific manner. Mutabazi (2008) discussed modernity in traditional medicines by taking into account for major points, they are—  Autonomy—according to him, granting autonomy to the traditional medical system would lead to increasing self-awareness and highlight their major role in the society. It will also enable the traditional medicine practitioners to have the rights to practice their healing system.  Training—taking training of being traditional health practitioners is believed to improve the systems, practices as well as capacities/capabilities. It is also thought to improve the quality as well as the efficacy of traditional medicines.  Documentation—this is essential or necessary to achieve the status of National Health Service. Documentation leads to both the recording of the treatment successes and the failures of traditional health remedies. Proper documentation of the treatment procedure by traditional medical system will lead to the possibility of evaluating the existing pattern of treatment.  Peer Education, Monitoring and Regulation—Evaluation of the traditional medical practices can be done by the peer bodies. The evaluation helps to verify that whether the traditional doctors are carrying out their jobs and tasks in the correct order or not. It will also help the system to improve and perform in a better way in the near future.

Therefore, it’s by this way that one can note the modernity in the system of traditional medical system.

Role of faith healers in the society-- Healing through faith is also termed as “Spiritual Healing”. It is a healing of soul through a frame of mind that is highly refined in thoughts and feelings, and free from sensuality. Muslim faith healers have their own sacred writings and rituals by which they do . According to Mohyuddin (2014), “the concept of a faith- healer is that of a person who is a gifted to have direct communication with the supernatural powers of the universe, from where he derives knowledge, belief and strength to be communicated in different expressive and non-expressive forms including magic. Faith healers have unquestioned faith in the chain of hierarchy or levels of platforms they fall under their guidance from the unknown. “He or she” is the socially initiated, ceremonially inducted member of a recognized religious organization with a rank and function that belongs to him or her as the tenant of an office held by others before him. The source of power given to them in their ‘internal society’ and institution is the source of their function. They have a strong belief in knowledge and wisdom of the domain they belong to, and believe in, and practice their healing-powers through strictly formatted rituals. These rituals are culturally prescribed, periodically repeated, patterned sequences of behavior and activities strictly followed by them and their followers”. A faith healer is always believed to possess a religious identity. They are considered to be religious as well as powerful with divine control over the physical environment. They are believed to transcend into a divine world from where it is believed that they contain the power to heal the people out of their ailments. They are even thought to possess the capability to manipulate the spirits or the supernatural elements so that his/her followers can be benefitted. Faith healers are believed to have well-built authority on the behavior and attitudes of their believers. It must also be noted that the faith healers cannot function properly if they are not accepted socially. The people consider the faith healers as their guide who helps them to resolve matters related to social, medical, employment as well as economic problems. People consider them as their “teacher” who would guide them in all situations and save them from any possible dangers. Faith healers are supposed not to be materialistic in nature. Any faith healer who asks for money is considered to be fake by the members of the society. According to the research done by Mohyuddin (2014), “In the village, there was a woman faith healer who asked for rings. She turned blind and became unpopular amongst the villagers and people stopped going to her. People believed that she tried to sell the God’s name and that’s why she has been punished”. Faith healers are not judged in terms of their gender rather it is the divine power they possess which is respected by the people. Therefore, the objective of both the female and male faith healers is to provide their followers with the services so that they can be healed from the present suffering.

Transition from traditional to modern medicine: Religion is a belief system which comprises of myths that clarify the social and religious order. Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (1972) has defined belief as, "Belief is a mental attitude of acceptance towards a proposition. Belief manifests itself by what we do in circumstances to which proposition is relevant by our decision and the degree of confidence or of hesitation with which we draw and by the surprise which we

feel if proposition turns out to be false." There are ranges of healing and treatment processes in modern medicine. It generally falls into four broad categories:

(1) Original traditional medicine,

(2) Modern traditional medicine (modernization of traditional medicine),

(3) Western medicine, and

(4) Integrative medicine.2

Through this classification it can be predicted that traditional medicines were popular among the people in the early part of the human civilization as medical advancement didn’t take place at that time period. Gradually modern medicine developed with the coming in of the 17th century. The art of careful observation, empirical studies of the human body and the remedies for the ailments were chalked out through a scientific manner. Hospital doctors began a much more scientific way of treating the people with focused diagnosis. The process of treatment was not based on any religious doctrine or faith of the people. Advance in and surgery developed mainly in the 20th century at a large scale. Bacteria and microorganisms were first examined with the help of a microscope by in 1676, thereby initiating the scientific field of .

With the rise of the modern medicine, there was a gradual decrease of the people approaching to the faith healers. Doctors gave effective pills by which the ailments were cured off; but this notion cannot deny the fact that the concept of faith healers completely washed away from the society, rather research took place on the methods applied by the faith healers and it was discovered that the medicinal plants and herbs which the faith healers used to give to their followers for the cure of their disease were in actual sense effective in nature. Thus, by this way the concept of integrated medical systems started to take shape. Today, in this modern 21st century, one can clearly see that along with the modern medical systems, packages are provided to the patients by the medical institutions which try to promote spiritual healing among the people. For example, cancer patients are made to do yoga and meditation so that they can have a focus and thus can achieve spiritual and mental healing. Thus, the transition from traditional to modern medicine has been a big leap towards the progress of the human civilization but along with the modern medical system, traditional medical systems are also thriving in many sectors of the world.

Meaning of Allopathy: Allopathic medicine and Allopathy is derived from the Greek word “Allos” are coined in the 19th century by Samuel Hahnemann (the founder of homeopathy) as a synonym for the mainstream medicine. The term "allopathic medicine" is still used to refer to "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine". It is one of the widely used methods of treatment. Allopathy is empirically tested and provides a scientific base to the treatment of diseases.

2 Source: http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/45481.pdf

Allopathic health Practitioners: Allopathic health practitioners are mainly nurses, medical practitioners and pharmacists. According to a study by Tembani (2009), the allopathic health practitioners show a negative attitude towards the traditional healing methods. They consider the method to be unscientific, delays the patients to come to the doctors as they spend much time to the faith healers and that traditional healing system interferes in the efficacy of hospital treatments. The respondents in his study expressed concern regarding unscientific methods used by the traditional health practitioners when treating patients. These included not maintaining sterility through hand-washing before and after attending to patients, not using sterile equipment nor measuring the strength of medication given to patients, not prescribing the dosages of their traditional medicine according to the age and weight of the patient and also prescribing the medicines for an indefinite period. There was also no proper storage of their traditional medicines (Cited, Tembani 2009). Summerton (2006:21) also expressed concern about traditional healers who exacerbated dehydration in already emaciated patients by using enemas and inducing vomiting. In a study conducted by Hopa (1996:79) on the perceptions on integration of traditional and western healing in contemporary South Africa, the medical doctors spoke out strongly about the fatal therapeutic practices by traditional healers who would, for instance, administer herbal enemas to babies. It was one of the shortcomings of traditional medicine. Thus, it can be predicted that the allopathic health practitioners are not a follower or the believer of the traditional pattern of treating medicines as it is based on unscientific grounds; but it can also be noted that integrative health care systems are coming up as models for the other medical institutions where traditional methods of providing healing to the patients are promoted by the health practitioners.

Modern method of treatment: The modern method of treatment includes all those treatments which are based on the platform of Allopathy. It believes in the system of self-medication. Medical doctors treat the patients after going through a formal procedure of checkup of the ailments that the patient is suffering from. Endoscopy plays an important role in diagnosis, treatment and follow-up as in gastric anisakiasis, chronic giardiasis, strongyloides, hepatosplenic and chronic intestinal schistosomiasis. Modern medicine has done much in the fields of infectious diseases and emergencies to aid cure. Advances in vaccines for hypertension, diabetes, cancers etc, deserve attention; as also, the role of meditation, yoga, spirituality etc in preventing disease at various levels. Studies on longevity, life style changes and healthy centenarians deserve special scrutiny to find what aids longevity with wellbeing. Though the types of pathologies are incrementing due to the change in the climatic features; but advances in the sphere of medicine and constant effort to provide varied treatment facilities to the patients are taking place in the society.

Faith healers and Doctors: The people mainly go to the traditional healers to solve their social problems such as— These social problems include:  To improve economic conditions and living standards;  To have better crop;  To find a good spouse for their daughters;  To have control over husbands and in-laws;

 To get rid of in-laws;  To have safe pregnancy and delivery;  To have children especially sons;  To protect their belongings (houses, automobiles, orchards etc.) from evil eye. (Cited, Mohyuddin 2014) The contrast between traditional healers and doctors can be achieved by elaborating a few case studies from the work of Anwaar Mohyuddin and Mamonah Ambreen (2014)— Firstly, a three-month baby was very cute and healthy. One day his mother gave him bath, and tried to feed him, but suddenly he refused to take it and started crying. His mother gave him water but he refused to take anything. The mother took him to the village dispensary. The dispenser gave the child medicines for fever. His mother tried these medicines for two days but all in vain. Then she took him to the faith healer who told her the child is affected by a ghost. Then he gave her an amulet which she tied around the neck of her son. She said, “The next day my son was perfectly alright”. Secondly, a couple had no children even after two years of their marriage. They consulted doctors, hakims and went to shrines, but all in vain. At last they consulted a faith healer, who told them that they both are afflicted by negative amulet by a close relative. He told them that the time period fixed for the effectiveness of amulet was four years and they were fortunate that they consulted him within the fixed period. Then he gave them positive amulet for the removal of negative effects. By this amulet, they were not only cured but got a child only within a year. Now they have three children.

It can be predicted from the above case studies that the healing systems adopted by the traditional healers were theological in nature while the doctors applied medical science to cure the patients of their ailments. The process applied by the traditional healers involves their belief system. Without faith on the system of treatment directed by the traditional healers one cannot get the desired results. Doctors on the other hand promote the treatment of diseases of the patients by following the scientific line. They gives pills, encourages surgery so that one can get faster healing from the pathology that he/she suffers from. Traditional healers on the other hand demand the faith of the believers and are not based on any scientific grounds. Though studies are taking place showing the usefulness of the healing methods used by the faith healers; but the full implementation of the traditional healing methods by the doctors are still questionable in many parts of the world.

Conclusion: The widespread use of herbal medicine and its uses are not restricted to the developing countries or the faith healers, but it has become a major part of study globally. Herbal remedies are popular among patient with chronic diseases. Doctors should monitor the perceived benefits and adverse effect of self prescribed herbal treatments consumed by their patients, and bears in mind the possibility of herb-drug interactions. The public thus should be better protected and informed on herbal medicine, and doctors should take an active part in this process (Ernst, 2000).

References:

Ernst E, Herbal medicines: where is evidence? BMJ, 321, 395-6, 2000.

Kamboj VP, Herbal Medicine. Current Science, 78, 35-9, 2000.

Mohyuddin, A & Ambreen, M., From Faith Healer to a Medical : Creating Biomedical Hegemony, Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 2014, 4, 56‐67.

Mutabazi. Should we modernize Traditional medicine? Governing Health systems in Africa, 2008 (17) 7.

Muweh, N A., Modernity in Traditional Medicine Women’s Experiences and Perceptions in the Kumba Health District, SW Region Cameroon, Master Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of Master of Science Degree in Public Health Sciences, 2011.

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Prachi Garodia, Haruyo Ichikawa, Nikita Malani, Gautam Sethi, Bharat B. Aggarwal., From Ancient Medicine to Modern Medicine: Ayurvedic Concepts of Health and Their Role in Inflammation and Cancer, Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology, Vol 5, No 1 (Winter), 2007.

Singh, R A., Modern Medicine: Towards Prevention, Cure, Well-being and Longevity, Mens Sana Monogr. 2010 Jan-Dec; 8(1): 17–29.

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Xiaorui Zhang (2001). "Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review". Archived from the original on 26 September 2007.