Traditional medicinal plants are becoming increasingly important in the primary health care systems of developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of the population in Africa uses traditional medicine. In sub-Saharan Africa, the ratio of traditional healers to the population is 1:500, whereas that of medical doctors to the population is 1:40 000. This suggests that traditional practitioners have silently borne the burden of maintaining health in these communities. Although African governments and international organizations previously had little contact with traditional medicine practitioners, health crises have fueled the need to merge western and traditional treatments. Efforts have focused on re-linking communities with traditional healers and encouraging equitable access and benefit sharing of medicinal plants.

Mutual distrust has always existed between allopathic and traditional healers. Whereas "western" allopathic medicine looks at material causation, traditional medicine focuses on a holistic approach to disease, where the practitioner tends the body, soul and spirit of the patient. There are two categories of traditional healer: the diviner-mediums who provide diagnoses through spiritual means, and the herbalists who choose and apply relevant remedies. Traditional healers have elevated social status in adherent communities because of their knowledge. Their work is also closely linked to traditional ancestral spirit worship, as it is believed that communication with "the other world" can occur during the treatment process. Although traditional medicine was the only available treatment option for centuries, colonization, cultural imperialism and the advent of western medicine led to widespread skepticism among existing and prospective patients. In addition, there has been depletion of the knowledge reserves passed on from generation to generation. As most knowledge of indigenous medicine is transmitted through oral tradition from practitioner to apprentice, the effectiveness of certain treatments has never been scientifically tested. This, in conjunction with reports of unscrupulous healers prescribing bogus treatments has widened the gap between traditional and modern medicine.