African Traditions and the Modern Healthcare Delivery System in the Contemporary Nigerian Society

Abstract:

Some existing literature on healthcare were of the opinion that living in good health is the desire of everybody. Consequent upon this, the various ethnic groups in Nigeria have traditional means of handling their health challenges. However, since the arrival of orthodox medicine that accompanied Christianity to Nigeria, traditional healthcare has been facing existential challenges. This study sets to examine the relevance of traditional healthcare system to the health benefit of the contemporary Nigerian society. The study employs qualitative method of data collection and adopts historical and sociological approaches to analyse the data collected. Findings revealed that traditional healing is not against modern healthcare but supplementary to it as the World Health Organization approves its usage to cure illness. Also, studies in nursing science show that the tradition of the patients under the care of medical personnel must not be suppressed; more so as the traditional therapy is pushing forward in the global healthcare delivery system. The paper concludes that African tradition on healthcare system has sustained Nigerians over many generations. It therefore recommends that government at all levels should rally round traditional methods of healing so as to address the cases of sicknesses that are now defying orthodox medications.