African healers want to blend old cures with modern care, much like China has done. They say this could help solve Africa's health problems.
Many people in Africa get sick from diseases that spread fast. The hospitals often lack doctors, money, and medicine to help everyone who needs care.
Most people in Africa still trust old healing ways passed down through families. The World Health Group says eight out of ten Africans use these treatments when they get sick.
This old way of healing could make money and create jobs. Research teams in many African lands study these cures to make them better and safer.
Kenya leads the push to mix old and new ways of healing. The group that speaks for African healers wants to learn from Chinese doctors. They hope to make African cures work as well as Chinese ones do.
Stephen Mugambi helps run this healer group. He wants to send people to China to learn about tools and studies that could help African medicine grow stronger. His group asked Kenya's leaders for money to make this happen.
The healers collaborated with a big school in Kenya to test whether their cures really work. They want the government to speed up plans to use both old and new healing methods.
Big drug makers pick just one part of a plant to fight one health problem. However, African healers use the whole plant. They think all parts work together to make people well.
Doctor Wahome Ngare from Kenya says people knew about healing plants long before others came to Africa. He thinks using African cures could reduce treatment costs and help more people get care.
Professor Mbaabu Mathiu feels sad that some look down on African ways. He says these old cures helped both people and animals stay healthy for many years.
"We must go back to our old ways," he says. "They can fix the health problems that hurt Africa today."
Many people in Africa get sick from diseases that spread fast. The hospitals often lack doctors, money, and medicine to help everyone who needs care.
Most people in Africa still trust old healing ways passed down through families. The World Health Group says eight out of ten Africans use these treatments when they get sick.
This old way of healing could make money and create jobs. Research teams in many African lands study these cures to make them better and safer.
Kenya leads the push to mix old and new ways of healing. The group that speaks for African healers wants to learn from Chinese doctors. They hope to make African cures work as well as Chinese ones do.
Stephen Mugambi helps run this healer group. He wants to send people to China to learn about tools and studies that could help African medicine grow stronger. His group asked Kenya's leaders for money to make this happen.
The healers collaborated with a big school in Kenya to test whether their cures really work. They want the government to speed up plans to use both old and new healing methods.
Big drug makers pick just one part of a plant to fight one health problem. However, African healers use the whole plant. They think all parts work together to make people well.
Doctor Wahome Ngare from Kenya says people knew about healing plants long before others came to Africa. He thinks using African cures could reduce treatment costs and help more people get care.
Professor Mbaabu Mathiu feels sad that some look down on African ways. He says these old cures helped both people and animals stay healthy for many years.
"We must go back to our old ways," he says. "They can fix the health problems that hurt Africa today."
