Abstract
The World Health Organization (WHO) supports integrating traditional health care into national health systems. The reasons why this is not happening in Botswana are manifold, complex and not always rational. Traditional healers demand the right to practice their techniques and organize themselves with an emancipatory political claim, but they are unsuccessful. Based on a political ecology of health perspective combined with assemblage thinking, this article explores discourses and historical lines of development in order to show how Christian morality, the dualism between tradition and modernity and the introduction of a modern public health system are intertwined with belief in witchcraft that clandestinely hampers development.
Highlights
According to the 2002 World Health Organization strategy on traditional medicine (TM), alternative healing practices should be integrated into national health systems
Setilo sees hypocrisy practiced by people who live modern lifestyles and pretend not to have faith in traditional belief systems or medicine, but who still consult a healer for assistance with relationship problems, bad luck, or economic hardship
Botswana's Ministry of Health skillfully avoids the question of whether witchcraft discourses are a reason for the delay in establishing official regulations for cooperation between modern and traditional medicine: "The notion of associating traditional healing with witchcraft often stems from assertions these practitioners are able to cast spells on people
Summary
According to the 2002 World Health Organization strategy on traditional medicine (TM), alternative healing practices should be integrated into national health systems. The term "healing" will be used to show that the respective notions of such fundamental concepts can only be made comprehensible to members of the other school of healing in dialectical comparison To this end, it is important to look at the genealogy of the relationship between both schools of medical knowledge and to see the development of health care as a history of actual people and places (Jackson and Neely 2015; King 2010). On the basis of a reflection on the global hegemony of modern medicine, the article develops the manifold relationships between historical developments, actual practices, moral convictions and systems of belief or knowledge that characterize the politics of traditional healing, and that hamper important developments within the health care sector in Botswana
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
