🌍

African Traditional Medicine

Rich healing practices across hundreds of cultures, using plants, ritual, and community to restore wholeness.

Sub-Saharan Africa

History & Philosophy

Origins

African traditional medicine encompasses the healing knowledge of hundreds of distinct ethnic groups across the continent, transmitted orally across generations long before written record, shaped independently by each region's own flora and cosmology.

Core philosophy

Healing is understood holistically — illness reflects imbalance not just in the body but in relationships with community, ancestors, and spirit, so treatment typically addresses physical, social, and spiritual dimensions together rather than the physical alone.

Practiced today

Traditional healers (often called sangomas, herbalists, or diviner-healers depending on region) remain the first point of care for a large share of the population in many African countries, and the WHO has worked with several national health systems to formally integrate traditional practitioners into primary care.

Herbs, foods & remedies

152 herbs traditionally used within African Traditional Medicine — most often for Fever, Digestive Issues, Wound Healing.

See all 152

Showing the first 40 of 152 — use “See all” above for the full, filterable list.

African Traditional Medicine

History & Philosophy

Origins

Core philosophy

Practiced today

Herbs, foods & remedies

Abrus (Rosary Pea)

Achi (Brachystegia)

Adhatoda (African)

African Basil

African Blackwood

African Breadfruit

African Cherry Orange

African Ginger

African Mahogany

African Plum (Prunus)

African Rosewood

African Sandalwood

African Sumac

African Wild Potato

African Wormwood

Afzelia (African Mahogany Pod)

Aidan Fruit (Tetrapleura)

Aloe Vera

Alstonia Bark

Annatto (African)

Asante Pepper

Baobab

Bitter Kola

Bitter Leaf

Boldo

Borage (African)

Boscia (Shepherd's Tree)

Buchu

Calabar Bean

Calabash Nutmeg

Candelabra Tree

Cape Aloe

Cassia (African)

Castor Bean

Cat's Claw (African)

Caterpillar Pod

Cedarwood (African)

Combretum (Bush Willow)

Costus (Spiral Ginger)

Croton (African)

African Breadfruit

African Eggplant (Garden Egg)

African Star Apple (Udara)

African Wild Mango (Ogbono)

Amaranth Leaves

Bambara Groundnut

Baobab Fruit

Baobab Leaves

Bitter Leaf

Bitter Tomato (Solanum incanum)

Black-Eyed Peas

Cassava Leaves

Cowpea

Desert Date (Balanites)

Egusi Seeds

Fonio

Grewia Berry (Mutsambi)

Groundnut (Peanut)

Hibiscus

Imbe (African Mangosteen)

Kei Apple (Dovyalis)

Locust Beans (Dawadawa)

Marula Fruit

Millet

Monkey Orange (Strychnos)

Moringa Leaves

Okra

Palm Fruit

Plantain

Safou (African Pear)

Sesame

Shea Butter

Shea Fruit (Vitellaria)

Sorghum