Dear All,
King’s College London Anthropology Society & Integrative Medicine Society have teamed up to host an exciting event entitled:
‘The use of Traditional Medicines for Malaria in Mali: An introduction to Medical Anthropology’
Guest Speaker: Dr Merlin Wilcox
When: Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Where: Franklin Wilkins Building Room 2.40
This talk will give an overview of medical anthropology and intergrative medicine. Dr Wilcox will then talk of his work on Malaria in Africa. This event will be more than useful to all those interested in cultural anthropology, alternative modes of medicine, and those going to Africa on projects or medical electives. We will be exploring whether there are any evidence for its use.
The session will be interactive so come with your thoughts!
Any questions feel free to contact:
kclanth@googlemail.com or
ims.kcl@gmail.com
Thank you!
KCL Anthropology Society and KCL Integrative Medicine Society
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Malaria is recognised as one of the key priorities for the World Health Organisation. A child dies of Malaria every 30 seconds; yet it is preventable and curable (1).
For many millions of people, often living in rural areas of developing countries, herbal medicine, traditional treatments, and traditional practitioners are the main – sometimes the only – source of health care (2).
Traditional plants are used as a first-line treatment for malaria by 25% of people in malaria endemic countries (and up to 75% in some areas). However, there has hardly been any clinical research in this field (3).
Dr Merlin Willcox is the Honorary Secretary for RITAM (Research Initiative on Traditional Antimalaria Methods). Through forming a global network of researchers and others who are interested in validating local herbal medicines to prevent and/or treat malaria, RITAM is able to co-ordinate research on traditional medicine for malaria from around the world. RITAM is a partnership between the Global Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health at the University of Oxford.
1 www.who.int - Malaria Factsheet
2 http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2008/20081107/en/index.html
3 http://www.giftsofhealth.org/ritam/index.htm
