Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being.
Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional medicine (TM) to help meet some of their primary health care needs. In Africa, up to 80% of the population uses traditional medicine for primary health care. In industralized countries, adaptations of traditional medicine are termed “Complementary“ or “Alternative” (CAM).
Since the advent of 'big government', which in Europe occurred with the Roman invasions and in North America and Australasia with English colonisation, Traditional medicine has at best been misrepresented and suppressed and at worst been persecuted. This is not surprising, as the Traditional medicine ' extensive knowledge and their independence, because of their use of freely available natural resources, tends to place them outside of the economic and political control of governments. Governments therefore have, through the ages, tended to view Traditional medicine as a legacy of the past freedoms of tribal life and thus as a threat to their autonomy and power. This is why all governments have striven to fragment and control healing practices. Big government is generally only interested in control and power, and very rarely has had any real or genuine interest in the health of its subjects. This is proven by the fact that governments have, over the ages, been quite happy to sanction and give patronage to medical practices that were more lethal than helpful, as long as these were under their control. For the ability to control a country's medicine gives rulers unsurpassed control over its citizens.
In the past, the fear of reprisals by governments has caused a severe decline in Traditional Healing and has forced most Traditional medicine to do their work very quietly, within a circle of trusted supporters. Nevertheless there are some areas in the world where governments have had limited impact and Natural medicine have continued to practice, but these are few and are mostly located in Central America, Central Asia and Korea. With the new resurgence of ethnic practices and medicine all over the world however, Traditional Healing is also gradually gaining strength and is making a slow, but sure return, although the number of Traditional medicine worldwide is still not large by any means. Traditional Healing is not looking for endorsement by any government however. Governments and civilisations exist at best for a limited time. Traditional Healing is both an ancient medicine and the medicine of the future. It is timeless.
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