Traditional Healers and Modern Medicine in Madagascar

[three_fourth padding=”0 0px 0 0px”]Traditional Healers and Modern Medicine in Madagascar
0 4 | A U G U S T | 2 0 1 6

Officials and NGOs hope to work with healers, who thrive in remote areas, in order to reach underserved communities.

[dropcap]Ambondro[/dropcap], Madagascar – In Ambondro village in the remote south of Madagascar, it is said that the man whom people seek out to cure their sickness was trained by a ghost. Sixty-year-old Mbola Tohamana is a traditional healer and claims his potions and spells can treat diseases and psychiatric disorders – and even make people fall in love.

He is the sole inhabitant of a wooden house – a rare luxury in a region where many families cram a dozen people into one small living space. Inside, a brown and yellow tapestry emblazoned with depictions of butterflies and vines hangs across a wall. Pinned to it is a 2016 calendar and a weekly timetable. Tools, boxes and a bicycle are neatly stacked around a sizeable bed.

Sitting on the thatched floor, Mbola explains how the knowledge of his craft came to him. “In 1975, I fell sick,” he says. “I had to drink Zebu blood [the blood of the local humped cattle]. Soon after, a ghost came from the sea and taught me everything I know.”

Another 4,860 ghosts followed, Mbola says, and they always sit on his shoulders – even as he speaks. “I take them as gods, they guide me.” They are his counsel in healing and advise him on how to treat people, he says. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″][/three_fourth]

Fai fominyen (traditional healers) in South African ritual

The National Department of Health has established an interim Traditional Health Practitioners’ Council to develop and manage knowledge of African traditional medicines. The department aims to publish a framework for regulating African traditional medicines by 2019.