Traditional Medicine Through the Filter of Modernity: A brief historical analysis

Abstract

Traditional medicines still prevail in current Malagasy context. A careful historical analysis shows however that Malagasy traditional medicine has been screened through many filters before being accepted in a global context. Traditional medicine in its authentic form has been more or less rejected with the advent of  modern medicine – although not without reaction. This paper will retrace the historical encountering of the modern and traditional to determine the extent to which traditional medicine is acknowledged and used in the current prevailing modern, rational and scientific global context.