Ontology model: Towards bridging the gap between African traditional medicine and conventional medicine

Abstract

Today, Complex African Society; African Traditional Medicine ATM is used in parallel to Conventional Medicine CM. Various attempts have been made to bridge the gap between African Traditional Medicine and Conventional Medicine in order to harmonize treatment and to create equal form of therapeutic cooperation. Although there is some minimal form of collaboration, African Traditional Medicine lacks formal structures; each practitioner has his/her own ways of providing healing services. Knowledge generated from Conventional Medicine is structured unlike African Traditional Medicine whose knowledge is not structured, isolated and mistrusted yet a lot of knowledge is generated in the practices which can be use across whole health sector. In this paper we are proposing ontology as a model to bridge the gap between African Traditional Medicine and Conventional Medicine for the benefit of users. We are proposing a methodology for structuring ATM knowledge as an extension of Basic Formal Ontology BFO; a standard upper level ontology.