An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

I don’t know if that adage exists in Ghana, but I’m sure there is some variation. Monday morning we went to see a traditional medicine mad, also known as an herbalist or witchdoctor. We were split into 4 groups – 2 went to see herbalists and 2 went to see TBAs (traditional birth assistants) here in Anyinasin. The herbalist we went to see was probably in his 30s and he explained what a herbalist was and how you become one etc. We found out that his particular specialty is stroke, blood pressure, and fibrosis. When asked what actually causes stroke, he actually knew the real causes, which I think surprised some of us. Usually herbalists are men but women can also do it. His mother was the herbalist before he was and she was the one that trained him. Before you can become an herbalist you must undergo years of training and studying. You have to know which plants you can use and be able to diagnose and treat patients appropriately. A lot of his medicines come from a plant but he wouldn’t tell us which one for obvious reasons. He said depending on the needs of his patients, he’d add certain spices or plants or even tree bark. Most of these remedies are delivered by enema, but some can be boiled and drank as a tea, which I’m sure most people would prefer. One of his treatments, I forget for which illness, was a combination of 18 different tree barks. We asked if he knew about Malaria and he said that he has treated many people for Malaria, however, we did learn that most people here considered malaria to be anything with a high fever – so Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Malaria would all be called Malaria. So if you want to talk about Malaria Malaria, you need to specify, so you could say “Mosquito Malaria” and people would know what kind of malaria you are referring to. We asked him if he ever collaborated with local clinics and hospitals when treating patients and he said he often does. He said in some instances, like breast cancer, he’ll have the patient get a mammogram at a hospital and then bring him the results and they can work out a treatment plan. We asked him to talk about his diagnostic process and treatment plan so we could get a better understanding of how he operates. A lot of herbalists use spiritual healing as a form of treatment, and he said he is one of them, but not as much as traditional herbalists. He considers himself a Christian, so any spiritual healing would be more Christian faith based as opposed to a traditional faith. He has a two-part analysis – physical and spiritual. He’ll assess the patient himself and ask questions about their condition, etc, but he will also call on the spirits to help with the diagnosis. It was really very interesting to listen to him speak. In America we kind of do the same thing but go about it in different ways. Everything is in tablet form, whereas here, the herbs and supplements are fresh from the earth. And don’t people pray for healing…? It just looks different from both perspectives but it’s pretty much the same. I’m glad we went to see him.