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Doing Development in West Africa: A Reader by and for Undergraduates
Edited by
Duke University Press
Copyright:
This content is made freely available by the publisher. It may not be redistributed or altered. All rights reserved.
ISBN electronic:
978-0-8223-7403-9
Publication date:
2016
Book Chapter
Biomedicine and Traditional Healing: Is Collaboration Possible?
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Published:August 2016
This essay explores medical pluralism—the mixing of traditional medicine and biomedicine—in the villages of northern Togo. While villagers have long moved between local and biomedical healing systems, between indigenous healers and the clinic, and accept both systems as efficacious, biomedical professionals have been less eager to endorse such collaboration. Still, there are emergent signs of a new relationship between the two in this village setting—of healers sending patients to the clinics when they are unable to find a cure, and of doctors contacting healers when pharmaceuticals are ineffective. Healers are also increasingly relying on clinic diagnostics (bloodwork to determine whether...
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