Global Health Crisis: Can indigenous healing practices offer a valuable resource?

Abstract

This article offers a reflective view of five articles published in this Special Issue of the International Journal of Disability, Development and Education. The 5 articles address various aspects of indigenous healing practices in different cultures. In distilling a number of pertinent themes, the author presents the view that indigenous healing practices can no longer be ignored by conventional medicine. These practices are potentially an invaluable resource available in addressing the ongoing global health crisis. However, in order to ethically address the role of indigenous healing practices within a westernised worldview, certain policy, methodological, and conceptual changes will be necessary.

Keywords:

• Global health crisis
• Holistic medicine
• Indigenous healing
• Policy changes

Notes

The author is a western‐trained Clinical Psychologist as well as an initiated African Traditional Healer within the Zulu tradition, currently in private practice and a postgraduate lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.