A social history of the Ghanaian pluralistic medical system

Abstract

In Ghana two medical systems have in recent decades existed side by side, leaving the individual the unsuspecting victim of the contradictions between their respective theories and realities. For example, scientific medicine, despite its clinical successes, has failed to spread evenly in the society within the imported institutional model. This paper traces the history of the two systems, and outlines a model emerging from a World Health Organization sanctioned programme of community-based primary health care which may offer a contemporary solution to the problem of competing medical systems. Ghana has been in contact with other peoples and ideas at least since the fifteenth century, and even within traditional Ghanaian society there is an acceptance of new methods and enthusiasm for incorporating some facets of modern health care into the evolving community health model. Nevertheless. the modernization process has affected the traditional authority pattern. The old man who used to be the custodian of the lineage tradition finds himself powerless; the educated have power and economic influence. Despite the fact that most of these latter live in urban areas, they frequent their natal homes and carry new ideas with them. As a result of this interplay, innovative ideas are readily accepted by rural folk. This is primarily a study in medical institutional adaptation.