The Role of African Traditional Healers in the Management of Mental Challenges in Africa

Abstract

This paper is aimed at describing the practices of African Traditional Healers, highlighting their contributions to those seeking relief to their mental health challenges and offering recommendations on how to improve on their services. This is because, reports from the World Health Organization (2003) show that the prevalence of the mental illness is epidemically high and that by the year 2020, depression is estimated to be the leading health problem in the world. The African faces considerable mental health challenges that are linked to civil wars, unemployment and AIDS epidemic. Unfortunately there are only a few trained mental health professionals in the continent to handle these conditions. Therefore, African Traditional Healers are widely sought after by masses of non-elite and elite Africans to meet their psycho-social needs, yet little is written in the literature about the practices of these healers and how they contribute to the maintenance of mental health throughout the continent.