Interfact of Traditional and Modern Medicine in Mali

Abstract

Few would dispute the claim that traditional medical practitioners provide most of the health care in Africa today. The reasons for this are several and include the availability and accessibility of traditional practitioners to the mass of people and faith in their skills. In recent years much discussion has centered on the issue of integrating traditional practitioners into the modern health care delivery system (Good, 1977). Strong arguments have been mustered on either side of this question, and they are often presented with heated emotion. The degree and level of integration is also hotly disputed, and shades of opinion range from advocating dialogue between the two systems to proposing that traditional practitioners be “legitimized” and integrated into the modern health care delivery system. Most opinions on this broad subject area have been publicly voiced or written by those whose culture reference is western. We know very little about how traditional practitioners feel about the matter.