African traditional medical practices and their safety implications

Background: Health and culture of the people connection are inseparable as the latter is a determinant of the former. The uncertainty and paucity in the accurate documentation of analytical studies of the scientific rationale of these practices, has raised growing concerns about why these practices should be allowed to continue without a dedicated and deliberate attempt to study their safety implications. Objective: The essence of this study was to elucidate on the safety and benefits of these practices to those indulge in them in Nigeria. This is with a view to identifying factors that encourage or hinder people from taking safety precautions in their daily indulgence in these practices. Methods: This was a review of previous studies on the implications and impacts of these traditional practices both in Africa and some other continents. 10 traditional health practices involving women and children were reviewed with a deep delve into the safety issues inherent in of each of them to ascertain if they are to be encouraged or not. Results: The summary of all the reviews revealed that majority of the practices have harmful effects on the victims as there were no documented hazards analysis to support their adoption or possible mitigating measures put in place to reduce their harmful effects to as low as reasonably practicable. They are not scientifically supported, so should be eradicated holistically. Conclusion: To address the safety issues (unsafe conditions and unsafe acts) surrounding these traditional health practices for women and children in Nigeria and Africa at large, it is imperative to consider why some women still to subscribe to these unsafe health traditions to determine what measures could be directed towards behavioral change wheel.