Preventive Medicine and Superstition in Nigeria

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThe peoples of the Western world, and not a few Africans who have adopted some Western ideas, are apt to think that in matters of hygiene and preventive medicine the peoples of Nigeria owe all their useful practices solely to Western civilization, while the traditional theories and practices are merely superstitions. But in fact, when one analyses these, one finds interwoven with them correct principles of hygiene and preventive medicine. It is true that Nigeria owes a great deal to modern medicine, but had it not been for an existing foundation of practical hygiene and preventive medicine among Nigerian peoples, it would not have been possible for them to derive full benefit from modern practices.