The summit serves as a platform for stakeholders in traditional medicine to meet with officials from the department. They are expected to discuss how to regulate the sector and integrate it into the national healthcare system.
The department’s spokesperson Foster Mohale says the summit is also part of the efforts to uplift the Indigenous Knowledge System. ”The summit is part of the resolutions taken at the level of the World Health Organisation , African Union as well as Southern Africa Development Community to integrate traditional medicine into health systems. According to the WHO, around 80% of the world’s population is estimated to use traditional medicine, and traditional medicine is the first port of call to treat many diseases,” says Mohale.