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The efficacy of African local herbs are subject of extensive scholarstic arguments
Traditional African medicine is a holistic discipline involving indigenous herbalism and African spirituality, typically involving diviners, midwives, and herbalists. Practitioners of traditional African medicine claim to be able to cure various and diverse conditions such as cancers, psychiatric disorders, high blood pressure, cholera, most venereal diseases, epilepsy, asthma, eczema, fever, anxiety, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary tract infections, gout, and healing of wounds and burns.
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African Diagnostics
When a person falls ill, a traditional practitioner uses incantations to make a diagnosis. Incantations are thought to give the air of mystical and cosmic connections. Divination is typically used if the illness is not easily identified, otherwise, the sickness may be quickly diagnosed and given a remedy. If divination is required, then the practitioner will advise the patient to consult a diviner who can further give a diagnosis and cure. Contact with the spirit world through divination often requires not only medication, but sacrifices.
Spirituality In Healing
In African cultures, the act of healing is considered a religious act. Therefore, the healing process often attempts to appeal to God because it is ultimately God who can not only inflict sickness, but provide a cure. Africans have a religious world view which makes them aware of the feasibility of divine or spirit intervention in healing with many healers referring to the supreme god as the source of their medical power. For example, the !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert believe that the great God Hishe created all things and, therefore, controls all sickness and death. Hishe, however, bestows mystical powers for curing sickness on certain men. Hishe presents himself to these medicine men in dreams and hallucinations, giving them curative power. Because this god is generous enough to give this power to the medicine men, they are expected to practice healing freely. The !Kung medicine men effect a cure by performing a tribal dance.
September 28th 2009 11:12
WHEN guys gather in groups, they usually do so to discuss and argue football but when girls gather, only one thing is strong enough these days to attract their attention, fairly used materials.
From Ekonuwa market in Owerri, thru Tejuosho in Lagos to Dugbe in the heart of Ibadan, the sale of fairly used materials is in vogue, and the ladies are the main patronizers. Just ask the business enterpreneurs. One of them is Emeka who markets his wares in Dugbe market, Ibadan.
He started the business in 2004. Then he was into fairly used male products, basically shoes and bags. Two years later however, he switched over to female wares because of the general consensual assertion that the business is a potential oil field and three years on, his ever growing clientelle is enough to convince any doubting Thomas that he made a wise and smart decision. That's not all.
Some months ago, after an examination, I was strolling back to my room in company of a female colleague. At the famous IMSU junction in Owerri, she dashed to a corner, in broad daylight, to catch a glimpse of the newest fairly used wares on display. After a prolonged [ultimate] search, she settled for a pair of underwear. As sarcastic as I ought to be, my tongue summarily drooped as I was short of words. Ladies!
Ladies always appear trendy, funky, upgraded, confident, sophisticated and somehow intimidating when in company of their boyfriends. But all caution is thrown into the air when they hear the summoning bells inviting them to the open air exhibition.
Sometimes I ideate hypnotization since female wears are quite cheaper than males' who they continually approach with long inflated bills, only to get their things at the bus stop. Nemesis caught up with one, the other day in Ekonuwa market, Owerri.
From where I was pricing Indomie noodles, I was hearing fierce exchange of words like hapumaka (leave me alone), ego le sef? (how much?), iwu onyara (you are crazy)... From the high decibels, you don't need to understand Igbo language very well to know that all is not well.
Like others in the market, I tuned my frequency and gaze to the station where the resounding transmission was coming from. Only to see a voluptous lady arguing with an elderly man over a piece of underwear that got torn while the lady was trying it on.
Sometimes I wonder why ladies prefer okrika to brand new, even when their status show they can afford it. One excuse frequently given is that of durability.
They claim okrika products are strong and durable, standing the tests of time and pressure. To this, I say no. How will a material start developing strength and durability after undergoing severe wear and tear in the hands of its first user, sometimes users?
They might also blame the rising cost of new things. But as said in previous lines, guys' wears are more expensive, yet we still endeavor to get them new. In lieu of these, I've come up with my own reasons. First being greed.
Their love to have it all regularly compels them to forsake exotic unisex boutiques for road side exhibitions. They want both quality and quantity. Haba!
Another reason is obsession. Some of these ladies cherish some designers whose works they cannot afford, forcing them to resort to okrika for the satisfaction of their longings.
One last point I'll to mention is that of demonic possession. A lot of girls are spiritually entwined in bondages that tie them down with fairly used things, instead of seeking new materials. They may not agree with me but I see such ladies as being placed under a spell.
While it is medically dangerous to share certain clothings, we cannot but view this issue from another angle. Many ladies of today are like what they put on, okrika (fairly used). So, why put an old wine in a new skin? They are totally incompatible, and so it is with ladies.
September 28th 2009 10:53
Since few days ago when news started filtering in on the success of a HIV vaccine clinical trial in Thailand, the entire world has been enveloped in an unquenchable euphoria with some individuals saying that the end has finally come to the long dreaded HIV virus, the causative agent of AIDS. In this article, scientific and statistical facts are analyzed to give readers the truth on the issue.
HIV undoubtedly remains the most popular virus as several hundreds of millions of dollars are expended annually in the fight against it. While success has been recorded in awareness, prevention remains an issue that has eluded HIV researchers globally. HIV vaccine research was quite silent until few days ago.
One of the facts we need to acquaint ourselves with is the efficacy of the vaccine. In the report, 31% of individuals in the study were protected. The issues this raises are quite enormous.
Firstly, 31% efficacy is not good enough in medical science. For a vaccine to be described as effective, it has to offer reliable protection to most individuals receiving it, a condition that the new vaccine failed to meet. If only 31% of participants were protected, how do we determine who will be in that 'lucky group'?
Also, HIV researchers are now faced with another challenge of explaining why some were protected, while others were not.
One of the reasons past HIV researches gave is the natural protection conferred on some sets of individuals who lack a particular gene. The researchers who conducted this study failed to tell if participants were screened for the presence or absence of this gene, plus other factors that confers protection on an individual.
They also need to tell the world the method of exposure. In science, it's a known fact that retroviruses (a group that HIV belong to) have affinity for certain parts of the body. There is the need for the researchers to declare the method of infection; this will go a long way in determining whether the protection can also be conferred on individuals who are exposed to the virus via means that were not included in the study.
The proliferation of numerous HIV strains is another factor that should be put into consideration. HIV strains generally refer to the numerous forms of the virus that are available. Strains arise as a result of mutation (mistake, interruption or interference) in any of the stages of development of the virus. HIV belongs to the class of viruses that mutate easily. We therefore need to know the potency of the vaccine on other strains. The researchers used a strain of the virus that is prominent in the region of Thailand where the clinical trial was conducted, which is quite different from that of African countries.
Another important point is that of the long term effect. Medical history is filled with tales of vaccines that proved effective at the outset only to turn around and become hazardous to recipients. With this at the back of our minds, the various regulatory bodies will surely not allow such re-occurrence as extensive studies would still be carried out on the vaccine to determine its safety.
While it's good to rejoice with the rest of the world that hope is visible, no matter how dim, we should be quick with the celebrations and face the realities that face us. The first being that the world is still far from getting a vaccine based on the facts previously stated.
We should not forget the fact that the vaccine is a blend of two previously failed vaccines. The questions this raises is what went wrong in the first instances? Let's look at basic pharmacology (basically the study of drugs).
In pharmacology, 3 things can happen when 2 chemical substances are combined. One is additive where the combined activity of both drugs is a sum of their individual activities; second possibility is inhibitory where both chemical substances antagonize one another. The last possibility is synergy where there is potentiation of the individual activities of the individual drugs. For the vaccine however, its mechanism can not yet be described; except if resurrection of functionally dead drugs is now acceptable in pharmacology.
The HIV vaccine trial that should interest Nigerians and other African countries is the one going on in South Africa and Kenya. We should be supportive and be inquisitive in order to see the possibility of adapting or modifying the vaccine, if potent, for Nigerian use. The Nigerian government also has roles to play.
Although most parts of the world are affected, the strains differ. The major Nigerian HIV 1 and 2 strains are different from the ones in Thailand and South Africa. Most countries of the world had realized this and had saddled their medical researchers with the responsibility of developing vaccines. Nigerian government should not fold hands or rest on her oars.
Nigerian medical institutions and HIV researchers should wake from their slumber and get down, working on getting us a Nigerian HIV vaccine. We should advance from the no-longer-new ABC campaigns which in my own researches are not effective for Nigeria, and start vaccine testing.
The name, Clinton, has for been synonymous with the White house. Both Mr and Mrs Clinton are daily followed by international press and when they weren't in office, they were still viewed as celebrities both in politics, and entertainment.
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Hanging out with the dead might not be this fun.
My eyes have seen, my ears have heard and my mind has had several thoughts some of which were off shoots of several experiences and unusual circumstances, which became turning points in my life, but I can't unequivocally place an experience I had yesterday when certain circumstance compelled me to hang out with the dead
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I've never for once given it a thought that I would be interested in a case like this. I've always been an easy going and highly responsible guy that gives honor to whoever deserves, and that includes the spiritual world. But recent incidences had made me reconsider my stance, especially when it has to do with spiritualism.
My attention was first drawn to the current face of 21st century idolatory when I was passing through Shell Camp in Owerri about 2 months ago. While cruising my way through the hinterlands, something caught my attention
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I'm starting a weekly 5 top shots from eastern Nigeria. Grade them using your own scale.
Laboratory Practical In Progress
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Exploration, like other means of relaxation, is one of the hobbies of man that is difficult to discuss these days, owing to the dwindling financial crisis that has enveloped most parts of the world. With more people losing their jobs and the take-home pay not being enough to take people home, the curtains seems to have fallen on exploration and other acts of tourism.
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Exploration, like other means of relaxation, is one of the hobbies of man that is difficult to discuss these days, owing to the dwindling financial crisis that has enveloped most parts of the world. With more people losing their jobs and the take-home pay not being enough to take people home, the curtains seems to have fallen on exploration and other acts of tourism.
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The Nigerian Medical Laboratory Science student association (NIMELSSA) is organizing an international conference, come 2009. Stay with this page for further information or send a mail to: Your text goes here
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