African Traditional Medicine

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AMONG SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: Revealed that African traditional medicine could be used in the explicable or inexplicable form. Examined the veracity of the claim that the practice and use of African traditional medicine amounted to idolatry, Identified the patterns and extent of the practice and use of traditional medicine among the Seventh-day Adventists in particular and Christians in general, Analyzed the social, economic and spiritual impacts of the practice and use of traditional medicine on Seventh-day Adventists and other Christians. Discussed the interplay between African traditional medical practices and Western medical practices in the health care delivery system of the Seventh-day Adventists. Discovered that Seventh-day Adventists use the explicable form of African traditional medicine to meet their health needs because it was affordable, available and effective to meet their health needs. Demonstrated that using the explicable form of African traditional medicine to meet the health needs of Seventh-day Adventists is supported by the Bible and Ellen G. White, who said among other things that: God has caused to grow out of the ground, herbs for the use of man, and if we understand the nature of these roots and herbs, and make a right use of them, there would not be a necessity of running to the doctor so frequently, and people would be in much better health than they are today. (Selected Messages, bk. 2, pp. 297-298)"