2024 AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE DAY: LASG TASKS PRACTITIONERS ON TECHNOLOGY, DOCUMENTATION 

The Lagos State Government has urged stakeholders in the traditional medicine profession to embrace technology by improving research and cultivating the habit of proper documentation of their work to be on par with best global practices. 

The Registrar of Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board, Prince Babatunde Adele stated this in his welcome address at the Year 2024 African Traditional Medicine Day, with the theme, “Traditional Medicine: Research and Development”, held recently at the Onikan Youth Centre, Onikan, Lagos. 

The Registrar maintained that there is no doubt that with individual and collective commitments, traditional medicine would become the only major avenue for achieving the protection and promotion of the health of all people of the World as encapsulated in the World Health Organisation Declaration of 1978 and various components of the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

“Permit me to state that there is nothing that traditional medicine cannot cure, but let me at this juncture advise stakeholders in traditional medicine to, as a matter of priority, embrace technology by improving their research, further develop and cultivate proper documentation of their works, because the African Traditional Medicine has gone global.

“There is no doubt that with individual and collective commitments, traditional medicine would become the only major avenue for achieving the protection and promotion of the health of all people of the World as encapsulated in the World Health Organization declaration of 1978 and various components of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)”, Adele said.

In a similar vein, the former Chairman of the Lagos Traditional Medicine Board, Prof. Mrs Adebukunola Adefulire-Ositelu advised that members should utilise the opportunity of their profession to heal.

Speaking to the efficacy of traditional medicine, the former University Don recalled how members of the Traditional Medicine Board put heads together to find lasting solutions to the spread of the COVID-19 disease with the use of local leaf, Miracle leaf and Chilli pepper, adding that that simple solution prevented its further spread among members.

Also in his keynote address at the event, the Deputy Director, Research, Training and Development of Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board, Mr Hakeem Bello said traditional medicine has a significant impact on global health including provisions of accessible and affordable healthcare options for an underserved population while complementing conventional medicine,

Furthermore, the Chairman, Lagos State Traditional Medicine Practitioners, Baba Awishe Odufuwa encouraged members to be more advanced in technology and, most importantly, to be more united to take the profession to greater heights. 

The event was attended by various Government administrators, health practitioners and other stakeholders in the Traditional Medicine sphere of the state.