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Articles sur traditional healers

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Mona Market in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa operates on the third week of every month when traders set up temporary dwellings for the four days. Gary Stafford

Traditional healing in South Africa needs spaces designed for the purpose

Most healers still practice in their houses where there is little privacy. Others use more private backrooms. But these spaces were not designed for the practice of traditional medicine.
Traditional medicines sold at a South African market. Rebecca and William Beinart

The story of the pharma giant and the African yam

In the 1950s, the African yam was exploited by drugs firm Boots to produce cortisone. But South Africans fought back against the plundering of a plant that they used for traditional healing.
Fresco depicting the healer María Sabina with her mushrooms. DR

Discovering hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico

Before being qualified as “magic”, certain mushrooms were considered sacred by the ancient peoples of Mexico. We explore their history and relationship to Mesoamerican religion and medicine.
In the medical culture of the Bugis and Makassar peoples in Indonesia the word koroq means that the penis is actually shrinking, or retracting, but the Dutch in the 19th-century East Indies did not believe it was real. shutterstock

Is shrinking penis syndrome a delusion or a real thing?

Koro is widely believed to be a culturally localised delusion. But a theory that it’s a fight-or-flight reflex might be corroborated by studying traditional healing treatments in Indonesia.
Scientists do science to improve society. Africa’s challenges are a golden opportunity to demonstrate its value. Shutterstock

African scientists must step out and speak up if they want to add value

Africa’s complex and seemingly insurmountable social and economic problems are a golden opportunity to demonstrate the value that research can bring. Scientists need to rise to the challenge.

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