Perspectives on the Status of traditional medicine in Tanzania

Year 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 21 - 31, 01.11.2012

Ernest S. Kira Sotco C. Komba

Abstract

This article entails student teachers’ perceptions of the status of traditional medicine in
Tanzania. A broad focus group discussion was held with 50 student teachers taking Bachelor
of Science with education at the Dar es Salaam University College of education in Tanzania.
However, such student teachers’ responses were merged with interview responses from
regular teachers, elders, customers of traditional medicine and traditional healers from both
Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions. Findings indicated that all respondents appreciated the
existence of the African traditional medicine alongside the modern ones. However, it seemed
that the modern medicines are far more popular than traditional ones especially in towns and
cities. Although the respondents admitted to have heard and or witnessed some cases where
some modern medicines proved failure but managed by traditional medicine, very few believed
so. This could be attributed to a scenario that only a small proportion of the respondents grew
in environments conducive for using traditional medicine. Hence, it was concluded that,
future plans that focus on integrating some important aspects of the African traditional
medicine in the formal school curriculum can serve dual purposes of improving people’s health
and enhancing biodiversity conservation strategies for both rural and urban societies. 

Keywords

African traditional medicine, biodiversity, school curriculum

References

• Akey TM. (2006) An exploratory analysis on school context: student attitudes and behavior, and academic achievement. Retrieved July 3, 2012 from www.mdrc.org.