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PJ Online homeThe Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7389 p239-240
25 February 2006

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African medicine: tradition and beliefs

Reports of killings to obtain body parts for “muti” (the Zulu word for medicine) brought African beliefs into the spotlight, including practices to do with healing. Indeed, many African healers use herbs that have been used to obtain drugs for Western medicine. In this article, the second in a series on traditional systems of medicine, David Okpako gives his interpretation of traditional African medicine

Traditional medicine series

David Okpako, PhD, FRPharmS, is professor of pharmacology at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

This object is part of a display in the Wellcome Gallery at the British Museum, London

Wooden vessel designed to hold sacred palm nuts

Wooden vessel designed to hold sacred palm nuts used for divination by Ifa priests: divination plays a role in traditional African medicine

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