Modern medicine demands standard dosages that tend to vary only with bodyweight or severity of disease. Traditional healers are more likely to give their patients a unique dosage or combination of medicines that is concocted only during the consultation and based on the patient’s symptoms.

This article analyzes two major limitations of Western medicine: maturity and incompleteness. From this viewpoint, Western medicine is considered an incomplete system for the explanation of living matter.

Scientists have shown that traditional medicines used in parts of Africa and Asia could help treat major diseases such as cancer and diabetes. They say their findings could lead to the identification of new compounds for use in drug manufacture.

Some traditional treatments work well but modern medicine just takes these traditional treatments and makes them more effective. Modern medicine can have side effects, but if taken with regulation and not in overdose, modern medicine can be the most effective way to help yourself.

Traditional medicine It is the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Traditional medicine refers to the knowledge, skills and practises based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being (Fokunang et al., 2011).

A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.

Because TM is culturally entrenched, accessible, and affordable, up to 80% of the Ethiopian population relies on traditional remedies as a primary source of health care [7, 10]. Some studies have also revealed that Ethiopians use TM due to lack of access to modern health care facilities.

Health beliefs, particularly feelings of self-efficacy, relate to an individual’s perceived ability to perform a certain behavior. These perceptions of self-efficacy may influence whether individuals will attempt certain behaviors and how the behaviors will be carried out.

Path to improved health

• Eat healthy. What you eat is closely linked to your health.
• Get regular exercise.
• Lose weight if you’re overweight.
• Protect your skin.
• Practice safe sex.
• Don’t smoke or use tobacco.
• Limit how much alcohol you drink.
• Questions to ask your doctor.

The Health Belief Model has four core components: (1) perceived susceptibility; (2) perceived severity; (3) perceived benefits; and (4) perceived barriers.

The influence of culture on health is vast. It affects perceptions of health, illness and death, beliefs about causes of disease, approaches to health promotion, how illness and pain are experienced and expressed, where patients seek help, and the types of treatment patients prefer.

Culture influences healthcare at all levels, including communications and interactions with doctors and nurses, health disparities, health care outcomes, and even the illness experience itself. People in some cultures believe illness is the will of a higher power, and may be more reluctant to receive health care.

The determinants of health include:

• the social and economic environment,
• the physical environment, and.
• the person’s individual characteristics and behaviours.