Analyze/What sector of activity is not a victim of the voraciousness of lies, and the pernicious and irreverent nature of a greed that stops at nothing, when it comes to satisfying selfish desires?

The reality of everyday life in a world where expertise is meant to serve the greatest number shows that, many are those who are more attracted by the profit, than the fact to providing a set of extremely important care, in a range of geographical contexts where, the needs are enormous, particularly in Africa where some people see public health problems as lucrative business opportunities, rather than a permanent concerns at the basis of the production of a set of extremely necessary qualifications, in a set of social contexts riddled with a set of immoral acts that sufficiently reflect the normalization of prodigality, and the trivialization of a norm without which it is impossible to provide a good quality service that implies rigor, social rectitude, and professionalism.

Generally, when we talk about charlatanism and imposture, we immediately think of all those who pretend to be something they are not, in order to achieve specific goals. But what is not always put emphasis on is that, the social context in which some healthcare professionals live and work, leads many of them to become counterfeit versions of what they are supposed to be.

This reality concretely demonstrates that, Charlatanism and imposture are not found solely outside the closed circle of health professionals. They also exist within a sector of activity which is a victim of a set of realities that push some health professionals to propose their service out of their country, while others choose to remain despite everything, not because they love their country more than those who have left, but because, despite the strong attractiveness of offers from abroad, everybody cannot work permanently outside the country because, there is a profession to defend, and vocations to foster and encourage at the local level, in order to lead populations to trust more in a local healthcare systems which are not perfect, but possess all the same, a quality human resources well-known at the international level, and a quality technical facilities albeit insufficient and very expensive for those who do not have enough financial means to survive, in a set of Territories where conventional medical professionals recommend to consumers to prioritize medications sold in pharmacies, while recognising the existence of several alternatives derived from traditional médecine which is at the basis of a double mistrust. Indeed, despite their usefulness, medications derived from traditional médecine are not without risks. We are not saying that all these medications are bad. What we want to make evident by saying it, is the necessity for a great collaboration with governments, in order to give greater visibility to an alternative healthcare solution threaten by the opportunism of charlatans and imposters whose sole aim, is to make money at the expense of others' lives.

Let's talk about this dual mistrust: that of some healthcare professionals of the modern médecine towards certain medications derived from traditional médecine, and that of consumers or potential consumers who have a mixed opinion about the effectiveness or efficacy of certain medications from traditional médecine.

The first can be explain by the fact that, modern médecine professionals constantly witness many people contracting serious illnesses, because they have ingested medications which derived from informal drug distribution channels. As a consequence, a patient or a consumer can develop kidney failure, in a range of geographical contexts where many are those patients who have not enough money to do dialysis, despite price reductions and subsidies or subventions in certain African Territories. Indeed, when the need to urinate is linked to a systematic and recurring cleansing of the blood of the body, there is reasons to make everything to prevent populations to consume some products, even if they believe these remedies or medicines are good. Modern medical professionals are particularly wary or suspicious about certain successful medications derived from traditional médecine practitioners, because they want them to submit their creations to quality control, in order to obtain an official authorization from governments before marketing them.

We live in a set of societies where the health of others is trivialized by some, while the pursuit of profit and money is valued, to the point of being at the root of the proliferation of a host of imposters and charlatans found both inside and outside formal and informal frameworks. Image: ninastock/Septembre 2017

The second source of mistrust is that of consumers who have a mixed opinion about traditional medications sold on the street, despite testimonies attesting to the real effectiveness of medicines produced by herbalists, thanks in particular to a nature that holds countless benefits which certainly leaves many people doubtful, but continues to gain the assent of a group of local populations who increasingly trust in that health care alternative, which provides satisfactory solutions to almost all health problems, thus showing that those who shout all day long to sell medications derived from the traditional pharmacopoeia, are not all charlatans or imposters as many tend to think, but agents of dissemination of a quality care whose many people, because of their dishonesty and their greed or love for disproportionate profit, want to compromise. But all this acts of immorality and wickedness do not change something to the fact that, the testimonies of some former sleeping sickness, and especially the fact that they were cured following treatment with natural plants, allow us to make a discernment that permit to make the distinction between those whose sole aim, is to make money at the expense of others' lives, and those who are truly committed to saving lives, instead of viewing public health problems as a source of enrichment, because it is such mentalities that reveal a charlatanism and imposture which very often, are not aware of their own ignorance because, we live in a set of societies where the health of others is trivialized by some, while the pursuit of profit and money is valued, to the point of being at the root of the proliferation of a host of imposters and charlatans found both inside and outside formal and informal frameworks because, like many sectors of activity, the healthcare sector, in particular, is one of the most coveted by identity thieves, and all these professionals of the health sector who believe that the fact of holding a license or authorization to practice this profession is enough to avoid being considered as an imposters or a charlatans, when some of their actions are completely at odds with the service they are supposed to provide.

Quality medicine is a satisfactory service requiring a specific set of knowledge and skills to solve very precise problems. It is a source of satisfaction situated within a formal or informal framework that must constantly reinventing itself, to provide the best possible care, thanks to research in both traditional and conventional fields. It is a social action that aims for the well-being of humankind in its entirety: physical, mental, and spiritual, in social contexts where acts of corruption have corrupted moral consciences, to the point of creating a network of imposters and charlatans more attracted by profit than by the good quality of a service which is contingent or dependent of the love that a health care professional have for a work he has freely chosen to practice, in a set of social and cultural contexts where quality médecine will always evolves between tradition and modernity despite everything.

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Traditional African medicine and conventional drugs: friends or enemies?