REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON PEACE - WORK - FATHERLAND
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LAW No. 2024/018 OF 23 DEC 2024
RELATING TO THE ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN CAMEROON
The Parliament deliberated and adopted, the President of the Republic hereby enacts the law set out below:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION
Section 1: (1) This bill relates to the organization and practice of traditional medicine in Cameroon.
(2) Its purpose is to foster the development of traditional medicine and thereby ensure public access to health care. As such, it shall:
- regulate the practice of traditional medicine;
- establish the rights and duties of traditional health practitioners;
- regulate the practice of traditional medicine;
- establish a body responsible for the development of traditional medicine.
Section 2: (1) Traditional medicine shall form an integral part of Cameroon's health care system.
(2) It shall contribute to universal access to quality health care and services.
Section 3: (1) This bill shall apply to whoever is recognized by his/her community, as well as by the competent authorities, as qualified to:
- diagnose prevailing illnesses and disabilities;
- provide health care or maintain well-being through spiritual treatments, manual techniques and exercises and/or use of plant, animal and mineral substances proven safe for humans or the environment.
(2) The categories of traditional health practitioners referred to in this Law include, in particular, persons practising as:
- traditional birth attendants;
- bonesetters;
- tradi-ancestralists;
- tradi-spiritualists;
- radiesthesists;
- herbalists.
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(3) The criteria and conditions for registration in each category shall be laid down by a separate instrument.
Section 4: Research relating to traditional medicine shall be governed by the laws in force.
II. DEFINITIONS
Section 5: For the purposes of this law and subsequent implementing instruments, the following definitions shall apply:
Traditional birth attendant: person recognized as qualified to deliver health care to a couple or a single woman before, during and after childbirth, based on the concepts prevailing in his/her geographical community. Such care may extend to the new-born.
Centre for traditional medicine: establishment wherein the traditional health practitioners referred to under this law diagnose, prevent, stabilize or eliminate a physical, mental, psychic or social imbalance, for the treatment of patients.
Traditional medicine: sum total of the knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used to maintain health, as well as to prevent, diagnose, improve or treat physical and mental illnesses. It refers to health practices, methods, knowledge and beliefs that involve the medical use of plants, animal parts and minerals, spiritual therapies, techniques and manual exercises - separately or in combination - to treat, diagnose and prevent disease or preserve health.
Traditional pharmacopoeia: collection of knowledge, skills, practices, preparation techniques and use of recipes or products from traditional medicine, of plant, animal and mineral origin, used to diagnose, prevent and/or cure a physical, mental or social imbalance.