Women in Traditional Healthcare in Contemporary Ghana: Evidence from the Volta and Oti Regions

Résumé

This study employed the qualitative method to study two indigenous women healers in Ghana – a traditional bone setter and a priestess healer. Placing the discussion within gender perspectives, the study chronicled the biography of these healers in the Volta and Oti regions of Ghana, their knowledge acquisition, healing practices, and the challenges that they face. The study found that the bone setter’s knowledge of healing was a family heritage, while the priestess acquired the shrine for reproductive purposes. The two practitioners have healed many patients in their communities in the areas of bone fractures and infertility issues. However, finance, poor record keeping, spiritual attacks, health challenges, and depletion of medicinal plants were identified as challenges confronting the female traditional healthcare practitioners in their respective communities. The study concludes that women, through their immense contribution to primary healthcare, support their family economy and provide a balance in a male-chauvinistic healthcare system. They therefore engage in their healing practices to navigate the male corridors of power and domain. This study contributes to scholarship on medical anthropology by discussing the role of women traditional healers in contemporary Ewe and Krachi societies. It also contributes to knowledge production in the field of gender studies, drawing insights from two distinct yet related geographical settings. Keywords: Women in Traditional Healthcare, Healing Practices, Gender Roles, Traditional Bone Setter, Priestess Heal

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