The concept of natural medicine dates back centuries. In the African setting, natural medicine has taken on an evolution but still having the basic principles. Natural medicine is defined simply as the art of using natural products, both plants, animals, substances and other approaches for the prevention and treatment of disease conditions.
For the purpose of this literature, I will be highlighting the usefulness of plants and the holistic approaches to healing in my native setting. Plants are very useful in the treatment of many conditions as most people do believe that every plant we have in nature is useful to us in one way or the other and that the one thing which divides the toxic from the non-toxic when using plants for treatment of disease conditions is the dosing. As we all know, too much of everything is bad, the same thing applies with plants. These plants contain varying degrees of phytochemicals and these phytochemicals can be toxic to the human system when ingested in large quantities. These phytochemicals bring about the necessary therapeutic value associated with the use of each plant. For example, moringa leaves which can be used for the treatment of malaria is also a potent fat burner when used in large quantities for a long time.
The use of medicinal plants in natural medicine in the African setting is deeply rooted to tradition and the concept of juju and voodoo associated with it makes it an interesting one. This stems from the fact that in the early days, before the introduction of Christianity, our forefathers believed in something, they believed in the gods of the land which were responsible for times and seasons, births and deaths, good harvests, fortunes and ill-consequences and the belief is still rooted in most African countries even till date. They believed that since these plants came from nature, that some sort of admonition and praises should be given to the maker, the source from which these plants come from. And that certain observances should be made before these plants could be effective as a cure.
In my locality, plucking of fruits at certain times and seasons, observing fasts and abstaining from certain kinds of foods during the period of treatment as well as incantation to evoke the spirits which are believed to make the treatment effective make up the aspect of juju associated with the use of natural medicine.
Although the use of these plants are no doubt effective as a cure, with the introduction of Christianity, many believe that such practices should be abolished because it goes against true worship of God as a Christian. There are also speculations that the use of natural medicine doesn't make use of a diagnostic approach as the modern medicine does and many believe it is more of what I'll term "surface treatment", giving relief to what we can see outside but not treating the cause of the physical manifestations. Many more of such speculations are associated with the use of natural medicine.
In conclusion, natural medicine should be embraced as a safe and effective way of prophylaxis and treatment and should be widely accepted. Solutions should be proferred to the problems of dosage and natural medicine should be incorporated into our modern health care as a way of bridging the gap between natural and orthodox medicine