marcus garvey pan african university - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 63 – THE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL
HERBAL RESEARCH CENTRE/CLINIC
in Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditional
healers are the only source of health services for the
majority of the population. For these reasons and more,
BHSN created "The African Traditional Herbal
Research Clinic", located in Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda.
“The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic" is a
modern clinic facility created to establish a model space,
whereby indigenous herbal practitioners and healers can
upgrade and update their skills through training and
certification and learn to respond to common and
uncommon diseases using African healing methods and
traditions in a modern clinical environment. This
environmental blending of traditional African medicine
and western technology is a powerful concept. Many of
the indigenous traditional healers have not had formal
training. Their knowledge has been passed on by oral
tradition. Therefore as an educational tool, the clinic is
conducting its research in Mother-tongue and English.
Through the African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic,
we intend to modernize indigenous health resources,
standardise effectively-known herbal preparations and
cures for trade on the local and export markets, and
certify competent African traditional medical
practitioners.
Afrikan traditional medicine is the oldest health system
on the planet and is a part of our cultural history. Afrikan
health traditions are becoming very important in today’s
world because western health systems are failing. More
importantly, our Afrikan traditions need to adjust to the
modern conditions that Afrikans today find themselves,
i.e., being able to deal with the toxic and chronic diseases
that result from adopting western culture and lifestyles
and being prepared for the many not-so-natural diseases
being created in western laboratories.
When we say we need to return to our Afrikan roots,
we don't necessarily mean it literally. Not everyone can
or will physically return to their roots. What we are
trying to say is let's pull back from western systems,
such as over-industrialization, fast food, and the biochemical-environmental
pollution of our planet (and
ourselves), and return to simpler methods of doing
things that are more in tune with Nature. We are a part
of Nature and we certainly emanate from this planet.
As we watch it being destroyed, we are watching
ourselves be destroyed.
We have commonalities that we all share, i.e., the
melanin (color) in our skin, Afrikan culture, and our
susceptibilities to the diseases occurring today both in
Africa and the Diaspora.
Plan of Action and Strategy
In pursuit of the mentioned ideals, our strategy is:
• To recapture indigenous African thought, history,
herbal, medicinal and agricultural traditions and all
other indigenous knowledge to reeducate our people
to African culture.
• To use and integrate this knowledge with technology
to develop our nation of African people, to help
alleviate poverty, and achieve higher levels of selfsufficiency,
dignity and self-determination.
• To show responsibility for Africa's health, wealth and
education using African indigenous knowledge as the
foundation for understanding the complex world we
live in today.
• To do research and develop credible, potent and
affordable herbal medicine to fight the diseases that
affect African peoples in communities in Uganda, the
Continent and the Diaspora.
• To combine African Traditional Medicine
(ATM), African Indigenous Knowledge (AIK)
practices and traditions with western diagnostics,
standardization and documentation technology.
• To provide space for seminars and workshops so as to
sensitise, edify and stimulate the African mind.
• To train African traditional practitioners (ATPs) so
they can help and train others in their communities.
Projected Outcomes of the African Traditional
Herbal Research Clinic
The projected outcomes of this venture are to: 1) raise
public awareness and understanding on the value
of African traditional herbal medicine and other healing
practices; 2) contribute to the improvement of
community health; 3) promote the health services of
Continued on page 65
-64- Traditional African Clinic August 2013