OUR MENTAL HEALTH AND THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN NIGERIA.

Abstract

Traditional medicine is a complementary and alternative method of health care delivery and its relevance to public health in both developed and developing countries cannot be overemphasized. This paper discusses the role of traditional medicine in mental health care delivery in Nigeria. It also highlights the evolution of trado-medical practice in Nigeria. It describes traditional psychiatry as a specialized branch of traditional medicine which involves the treatment of all forms of mental illness or disorders. It touches on the role of trado-medical health practitioners in Nigeria and some of the legal implications of the concept which, among others, involves consent to treatment of the mentally ill person. The paper also presents the liability or culpability of a negligent traditional medicine practitioner and the consequences of such act. The paper concludes that traditional medicine is used as a last resort for health care by the poor in Nigeria because orthodox medicine is relatively expensive and unaccessible to rural dwellers. The paper therefore advocates for a legal framework for trado-medical practice as obtainable in its orthodox medical counterpart. It also recommends the integration of traditional medicine into orthodox medicine in Nigeria as it is currently done in some developed countries in the world such as Japan, India and China.