Pan-African Parliament adopts model law to integrate traditional medicine in Africa

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) adopted landmark resolutions calling for a continent‑wide "Model Law on Traditional Medicine and the Protection of Local Knowledge." The proposals, championed by PAP Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs Chairman Frank Annoh‑Dompreh, aim to create legal and regulatory frameworks that will integrate traditional medicine into national health systems, ensure scientific validation, licensing, and quality assurance, and protect indigenous medical knowledge.

The resolutions target improved maternal and neonatal health, seeking to reduce preventable deaths by incorporating culturally trusted traditional practices into evidence‑based care. They were presented at the Seventh PAP session in Midrand, South Africa, following a joint parliamentary oversight mission with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Zambia, which highlighted the continued reliance of millions of Africans on herbal practitioners and traditional birth attendants.