Publication: African Traditional Healers : The Economics of Healing
Date
2001-05
ISSN
Published
2001-05
Author(s)
Leonard, Kenneth L.
Abstract
The traditional healers are a source of
health care for which Africans have always paid. Even with
the expansion of modern medicine, healers are still popular
and command fees exceeding the average treatment cost at
most modern practitioners. Are traditional healers miracle
workers or are they charlatans? Clearly either view is too
extreme. Traditional healers are not perfect. Nor, however,
can they be charlatans. This article advances a view of
traditional healers that relies on neither supernatural
power nor manifest ignorance. It suggests that healers
remain popular despite abundant modern medicine because they
have wisely used an important economic contract to the
mutual benefit of their practice and the population they
serve. While the contrasts between traditional medicine and
modern medicine are many, the article focuses on the
differences in the way traditional and modern healers are
paid. An important element of their practice has been
previously ignored: traditional healers receive the bulk of
their payment only if the patient is cured.
Citation
“Leonard, Kenneth L.. 2001. African Traditional Healers : The Economics of Healing. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Notes; No. 32. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/36c6a17c-2b35-5156-bc2a-56730a56a01b License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”