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Traditional Medicine

Back to the Roots

Knowledge of medicinal plants is communicated differently in African countries to the way people in the West learn it. A special exhibition at the Botanical Garden sheds light on traditional medicine in Uganda and – next year – in Switzerland.
Text: Brigitte Blöchlinger; Translation: Michael Jackson

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  • Cultivation of medicinal plants by PROMETRA Uganda at Mpigi Forest School. PROMETRA is an NGO that is dedicated to preserving and reviving African traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge. The forest school grows young plants that are then given away free of charge to the locally trained healers. In addition, medicinal plants are produced on a smaller scale, before being turned into products and sold.
    Cultivation of medicinal plants by PROMETRA Uganda at Mpigi Forest School. PROMETRA is an NGO that is dedicated to preserving and reviving African traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge. The forest school grows young plants that are then given away free of charge to the locally trained healers. In addition, medicinal plants are produced on a smaller scale, before being turned into products and sold.
  • Trained herbalists preparing an invigorating medicine. The plant ingredients need to be boiled for many hours.
    Trained herbalists preparing an invigorating medicine. The plant ingredients need to be boiled for many hours.
  • A phytochemical laboratory at Makerere University in Kampala. This is where the ingredients of plants and herbal medicines are examined. The research is generally application-focused, so new products are also developed and marketed at the university.
    A phytochemical laboratory at Makerere University in Kampala. This is where the ingredients of plants and herbal medicines are examined. The research is generally application-focused, so new products are also developed and marketed at the university.
  • A medicinal herbalist explaining how different plants are used in a remote rural region. This is where medicinal healers work together, producing and selling products and receiving patients. They’ve laid out the plants with the name tags especially for the team of researchers.
    A medicinal herbalist explaining how different plants are used in a remote rural region. This is where medicinal healers work together, producing and selling products and receiving patients. They’ve laid out the plants with the name tags especially for the team of researchers.
  • In traditional medicine, there are diseases that have a spiritual cause and can therefore only be cured by spiritual healers. The cleansing of bad spirits, for example in flowing watercourses, plays an important role in this process. The picture shows plants being used to “open” a female patient so that the spiritual healer can make his diagnosis. Spiritual healing is widespread.
    In traditional medicine, there are diseases that have a spiritual cause and can therefore only be cured by spiritual healers. The cleansing of bad spirits, for example in flowing watercourses, plays an important role in this process. The picture shows plants being used to “open” a female patient so that the spiritual healer can make his diagnosis. Spiritual healing is widespread.
  • Covidex, consisting of extracts from the Ugandan greenheart tree (Warburgia ugandensis), East African satinwood (Zanthoxylum gilletii) and lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus). It made its inventor Professor Ogwang a rich man who now has to travel with a bodyguard.
    Covidex, consisting of extracts from the Ugandan greenheart tree (Warburgia ugandensis), East African satinwood (Zanthoxylum gilletii) and lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus). It made its inventor Professor Ogwang a rich man who now has to travel with a bodyguard.
  • Medicinal plants are protected from being stolen, as can be seen here in the new Botanical Garden at Mbarara University. The medicine Covidex resulted, for example, in increased demand for Zanthoxylum gilletii and its seedlings. They are being protected here by an armed guard. The local population or medicinal plant dealers also like to collect well-known medicinal plants from botanical gardens.
    Medicinal plants are protected from being stolen, as can be seen here in the new Botanical Garden at Mbarara University. The medicine Covidex resulted, for example, in increased demand for Zanthoxylum gilletii and its seedlings. They are being protected here by an armed guard. The local population or medicinal plant dealers also like to collect well-known medicinal plants from botanical gardens.
  • Ugandan and Swiss project leaders and project coordinators. Left to right: Caroline Weckerle, UZH; Amon Mugume, Uganda National Museum; Moses Kasure, Igongo Cultural Center; Yahaya Sekagya, PROMETRA; Maud Kamatenesi, Bishop Stuart University; Jacqueline Grigo, UZH. Here they are visiting the company Spagyros in Western Switzerland. The Ugandans are particularly interested in new production methods.
    Ugandan and Swiss project leaders and project coordinators. Left to right: Caroline Weckerle, UZH; Amon Mugume, Uganda National Museum; Moses Kasure, Igongo Cultural Center; Yahaya Sekagya, PROMETRA; Maud Kamatenesi, Bishop Stuart University; Jacqueline Grigo, UZH. Here they are visiting the company Spagyros in Western Switzerland. The Ugandans are particularly interested in new production methods.
  • Members of the transdisciplinary research team from Makerere University and the Uganda National Museum doing fieldwork in Kaabong, in northeastern Uganda. They are talking to a local healer and expert in medicinal plants from the Ik tribe about her knowledge of medicinal plants, so they need to work through an interpreter.
    Members of the transdisciplinary research team from Makerere University and the Uganda National Museum doing fieldwork in Kaabong, in northeastern Uganda. They are talking to a local healer and expert in medicinal plants from the Ik tribe about her knowledge of medicinal plants, so they need to work through an interpreter.
  • The Igongo Cultural Center in Mbarara is one of the two partner museums. The exhibition on “Uganda’s Traditional Medicine in Transition” is currently being assembled, and traditional medicine in Switzerland is another topic that will be covered. In general, traditional medicine forms part of the (intangible) cultural heritage, and museums are therefore the perfect place to deliver knowledge in this area.
    The Igongo Cultural Center in Mbarara is one of the two partner museums. The exhibition on “Uganda’s Traditional Medicine in Transition” is currently being assembled, and traditional medicine in Switzerland is another topic that will be covered. In general, traditional medicine forms part of the (intangible) cultural heritage, and museums are therefore the perfect place to deliver knowledge in this area.

In Uganda, COVID-19 represented the big turning point. As the virus spread within the population and conventional drugs became scarce, many people turned to traditional Ugandan herbal medicine. Many people appreciate the fact that it causes hardly any side effects, and the population living in rural areas liked the fact that traditional medicine is incorporated into a greater entity in which the spirits of their ancestors also play a due role, says ethnobotanist Caroline Weckerle from the Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, who worked with her team to create the current special exhibition entitled Uganda’s Traditional Medicine In Transition at UZH’s Botanical Garden.

However, traditional healing practices – especially the practices of spiritual healers – were banned in what was known as the Witchcraft Act under British colonial rule in 1957, says Weckerle. This is why there’s a tendency to practice “in secret”. This also applies to traditional midwives, whose work was banned some time ago, but on whose help many women are extremely dependent, especially in rural areas.

Tradition meets science

In 2019, the Witchcraft Act was rewritten, removing the hurdle that made it difficult for modern science to embrace the tradition of natural healing methods in Uganda for sixty years. This kind of blend between tradition and science is also welcomed by the World Health Organization: the WHO recommends that African countries should integrate reliable and sustainable traditional healing practices into conventional medicine, especially in the area of primary care and prevention.

“Plants play a very major role in prevention,” stresses Weckerle. The privatdozent also leads the cooperative research project Traditional Medicine in Transition, on which the special exhibition at the Botanical Garden is based.

Helpful comparisons

The renaissance that herbal medicine experienced during the coronavirus pandemic prompted Makerere University, the Uganda National Museum in Kampala and the Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara to submit a proposal for a cooperative research project to UZH. Among other benefits, these long-standing Ugandan partner organizations of UZH hoped to gain some input that would enable them to continue developing their own local herbal medicine by comparing it with the approach to herbal medicine in Switzerland, a Central European country with a highly developed healthcare system.

To support their project, they recruited UZH ethnobotanist Caroline Weckerle and worked with her to develop the cooperative research project Traditional Medicine in Transition. This project is exploring the different ways in which knowledge is transferred in Uganda and Switzerland and aims to find out how the respective communication channels influence the level of knowledge about the medicinal plants.

Poetry, theater, music

Traditionally, herbal medicine in Uganda has often been passed on down the generations through poetry, theater and musical performances. The coronavirus pandemic added WhatsApp as a means of communication, which quickly rose up the ranks to become the most important channel for conveying information. However, there’s only a limited amount of reliable knowledge doing the rounds on WhatsApp, and fact-checking is difficult; during the pandemic, it was almost impossible for ordinary people to find out who was engaged in quackery and was just out to make a quick profit, says Weckerle.

The Ugandan research partners are now bringing together old and new ways of transferring knowledge so they can combine the benefits of both. For example, knowledge about herbal medicine is presented in two mobile museums that tour the country and is made available on social media at the same time.

“The most effective thing you could do would be to integrate teaching of herbal medicine into the curriculum at elementary schools,” says project leader Caroline Weckerle. This is because children in Uganda are now also spending more time away from their family home – where their grandmothers or grandfathers would previously have passed on knowledge about herbal medicine, and traditional medicine is not a topic covered in the Western-style schools they attend. As the curriculum taught at Ugandan schools is currently being revamped, this would be the perfect time to firmly establish “reliable herbal medicine” as a topic.

Documenting knowledge

Especially away from Uganda’s urban centers, the population relies on traditional medicine, says Caroline Weckerle. Conventional medical facilities are a rarity in rural areas and often located a long distance away. For the population living in these areas, it’s particularly useful for the correct production of established herbal remedies to be documented for them.

For example, all parts of the African tulip tree – an important medicinal plant in Uganda – are poisonous if they are untreated. A sophisticated process is needed to turn the active ingredients in the tree into a herbal remedy – which is the case for various phytomedicines. The Ugandan scientific partners are also keen to document and disseminate the best practices in production.

Growing quality rather than quantity

During the coronavirus pandemic, there was huge demand for a combination of three established medicinal plants. A resourceful professor, Patrick Ogwang, marketed this group of three plants under the name Covidex. With tremendous success.

During the pandemic, Professor Ogwang tried to produce the biggest possible quantities of this preparation – which was understandable at the time, but is harmful in the long term because one of the plants, East African satinwood (Zanthoxylum gilletii), can currently only be collected in the wild because there are no plantations (yet). Although the bark could be collected sustainably to ensure the tree doesn’t die, this approach is often not considered.

Many medicinal plants can be grown in gardens if there are enough seedlings available. The Traditional Medicine in Transition research project also wants to help make this happen by conducting workshops in botanical gardens and distributing seedlings.

Dynamic museums

Two museums in Uganda are also involved in the research project. They are playing a vital role in helping to achieve the research objective of imparting reliable knowledge about medicinal plants to the public. The Uganda National Museum in Kampala and the Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara consider themselves to be highly dynamic places that can act “as a platform for social change,” explains Weckerle. They design exhibitions to be a forum for the population to contribute knowledge and swap ideas – including on controversial topics – in a safe space.

The cooperative research project “Uganda’s Traditional Medicine in Transition” has borne rich fruit. To ensure that the special exhibition held at UZH’s Botanical Garden in Zurich was not too extensive, it has been divided into two parts in Zurich. This year is dedicated to traditional medicine in Uganda, and an exhibition chronicling naturopathy in Switzerland is set to follow in 2026.

Text: Brigitte Blöchlinger; Translation: Michael Jackson