Knowledge management in indigenous medicine: the expected role of Ghanaian university libraries.
Afful-Arthur, Paulina ; Filson, Christopher Kwame
Introduction
Indigenous knowledge is considered to be the knowledge held in the
minds of people which is less developed but keeps the sustenance of the
community. It is the basis for self-sufficiency and self determination
and provides alternatives to western technologies. It has been noted
that loss of traditional, cultural and customary gap comes about as a
result of lack of the right procedures of indigenous knowledge
management. The risk of losing what is in the minds of individual is
high; hence to ensure continuity of indigenous knowledge, proper
knowledge management is required. According to Davenport (1994),
knowledge management is "the process of capturing, developing,
sharing, and effectively using organisational knowledge" on the
other hand, it is the ways and means to notice, locate, disseminate or
share an organisational or individual intellectual property. Indigenous
medicine is an alternative medicine used in diagnosis, treatment and
prevention of sicknesses in most societies. Specialists in this area
include herbalists, traditional health attendants, and diviners amongst
others. Unfortunately, some of the works of these practitioners are not
documented.
Although a great deal has been written about the importance of
knowledge management, relatively little attention has been paid to how
knowledge creation process of indigenous healthcare can be managed,
hence the need for the university libraries which serve as a
repositories of knowledge transmission to assist in the dissemination of
knowledge on indigenous medicine. The library's interaction with
the environment together with the means by which it creates and
distributes information and knowledge should be critically looked at
when it comes to indigenous medicine.
Indigenous medicine management activities are part of the culture
and tradition of the community. Indigenous medicine is not static; the
contemporary orthodox medicine has influence on it (Cajete, 2000, Abbot,
2014 and Ebijuwa and Mabawonku, 2015, pp 58-67) believe that the
documentation of indigenous knowledge could reduce the incidence of
indigenous knowledge loss. In Ghana, most people depend on the use of
various plant species and other substances to treat diseases. According
to the World Bank (1998), indigenous knowledge in general faces
extinction if it is not properly documented. University libraries need
to be proactive as far as the preservation and dissemination of
scientific, indigenous and cultural information are concerned (IFLA,
2008).
Problem statement
In Ghana, indigenous healthcare play a major role in health
delivery, where medicinal plants, animals and charms are used to cure
diseases. This treatment is sometimes complimented with physical,
psychological and spiritual aspects. There is no society without
indigenous knowledge in medicine; hence this form of knowledge is
essential for socio-economic development. International Federations of
Library Associations (2008) stated that indigenous knowledge is the
basis for decision making, and that Adeniyi et..al (2013), also
buttressed this statement by asserting that a greater part of the world
population depends on indigenous medicine for survival.
Unfortunately, as noted by Adeniyi et..al (2013), African
indigenous knowledge is poorly managed as a result, some of the ideas
vanish once the custodians die. It must be noted that in Ghana, culture
is orally transmitted and that little is being done to preserve
indigenous knowledge in traditional medicine. The main problems
negatively affecting traditional medicine in Ghana are; lack of records
on practitioners including their qualifications, registration,
educational background, inappropriate premises for practice, inadequate
record keeping by practitioners, inadequate facilities for diagnosis of
diseases, and the use of sub-standard products.
The advent of information technology which should have facilitated
the preservation process had rather negatively affected transmission of
indigenous knowledge in traditional medicine. Also, academic libraries
tagged with the role of managing and transmitting all forms of
information and knowledge seem not to be bothered about indigenous
medicine. As a result, the development of indigenous medication is not
as fast as orthodox medicine and this serves as a major setback to the
necessary ingredients of socio-economic development. Thus, the key
problem the study seeks to address is to ascertain and examine which
management and dissemination practices should be carried out by academic
libraries so that indigenous knowledge of traditional medicine could be
preserved and transmitted as noted by IFLA (2008).
Objective
The main objective of this study is to find out the current way of
preserving and disseminating indigenous medicine if any and the expected
role Ghanaian university libraries can play to preserve and disseminate
the knowledge involved generated so that this kind of healthcare will be
sustained.
Brief background of Government's involvement in indigenous
medicine in Ghana
It has beenthe policy of the Government of Ghana to encourage the
continued development and research in traditional medicine so in 1961
the Ghana Psychic and Traditional Healers Association was formed. In
1975 the government established the Centre for Scientific Research into
Plant Medicine in Mampong Akuapem, and charged with the responsibility
of carrying out research and development activities in herbal medicine .
Again, in 1991 the government established a Unit within the ministry of
health to coordinate the activities of traditional; this was followed by
the setting up of the Food and the Drugs Board in 1992. In 2000, the
then government enacted the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council
Act 575 for the establishment of Traditional Medicine Council. In 2001,
a Bachelor of Science in Herbal Medicine was introduced at the Faculty
of Pharmacy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Asare,
2015).
In 2012, Clinical Herbal Medicine Practice was integrated into the
main healthcare delivery system in Ghana, through the effort of the
Ghana Association of Medical Herbalists (GAMH). Currently, GAMH is
advocating for the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover herbal
treatments. Since there is high patronage of the indigenous medicine for
many reasons as trust, proximity, cost and mode of payment
Currently, the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine
in Mampong Akuapem, produces its own herbal medicines and runs an
out-patient clinic which treats more than 16,000 patients a month
(Owusu-Ansah, 2014). Despite the role played by indigenous medicine in
Ghana, studies have shown that inadequate knowledge among a section of
the general public about the benefits, efficacies and capabilities of
indigenous medicine could negatively affect that sector of medicine.
Review of related literature
Creation and management of Knowledge
Information and knowledge are used interchangeably and this is so
because knowledge is created and organised by the flow of information.
This means that information is a necessary medium or material for
initiating and formalising knowledge. Knowledge can be analysed based on
syntactic and semantic perspectives. The syntactic aspect does not
really capture the meaning of the information unlike the semantic aspect
hence in knowledge creation the semantic aspect is mostly considered
(Nonaka, 1994, p.14). The key difference between information and
knowledge is that knowledge points out the action that should be taken
whilst information is the processed data.
There are basically, two main forms of knowledge and are explicit
and tacit knowledge. The explicit knowledge is the form that can be
transferred to another person. It includes things that can easily be
passed on to someone by teaching it or putting it into a database or a
book, whilst tacit knowledge is personal and very difficult to pass on
to others. Tacit knowledge is gained through experience and through
continuous activities. It is less quantifiable and it is often learned
by experience. It is a stuff you know, but do not necessary know that
you know. Due to this characteristic of tacit knowledge most
organizations or societies sees it as the hurdle for development
(Durham, 2004).
Knowledge management is the practice of organizing, storing and
sharing vital information so that everyone can benefit from its use. It
increases innovation and creates more powerful workforce and enhances
productivity. According to Davenport (1994), knowledge management is a
discipline that enhances an integrated approach to identifying,
capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all of an
organisation's information assets. These assets may include
databases, documents, policies, procedures and experiences of individual
workers
The emergence of information and communication technology has
repositioned the frontiers of university library resources, operations,
and services as well as expectations of user groups. The concept of
knowledge management were started and popularised in the business world
during the later part of the 20th century, however the preservation of
information and knowledge have been regarded as the task of librarians
and libraries (Hwa-Wei, 2005).
Knowledge is essential to enhance development, so at a higher level
the university library may offer specialised information that has been
consolidated and repackaged as currently performed by the Ghana Standard
Authority and the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research and
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. Libraries of these
institutions can partner with the university libraries in the creation,
preservation and dissemination of indigenous knowledge in medicine
(Policy Guideline on Traditional Medicine Development in Ghana, 2005).
Africa produces a lot of indigenous information and knowledge
relevant to development so Chisenga (2002, p. 16) opines that it is high
time such information and knowledge are harnessed, repackaged and added
to the global information infrastructure. Lwoga (2011, p. 409) also
believes that lack of cohesive approach for managing knowledge
suppresses the effort of the less privileged.
The role of academic libraries in this modern era
University libraries are established essentially to be custodians
of information in the academic setting; they are expected to provide
standard information resources. However, the global economic crisis
coupled with advanced technology has served as a challenge to the smooth
operations of these libraries.
To Eisenberg (1990), a library is essential for any university
because it acts as a focal point for teaching, learning, and research;
it is expected to provide standard information resources. Today,
university libraries are struggling to keep their place as the major
source of inquiry in the face of emerging digital technology (Aina,
2004). University libraries no longer restrict themselves to their
traditional services such as collection development and management,
cataloguing and classification, circulation and reference services,
current awareness and other bibliographic services, but have extended
their efforts to interdisciplinary concepts (Lombardi, 2000).
As observed by Campbell (2006, p.17), numerous creative and useful
services have evolved within academic libraries: providing quality
learning spaces, creating information, choosing resources and managing
them, collecting and digitizing archival materials, and maintaining
digital repositories. Academic libraries presently are faced with not
only the decision on what books and journals to acquire to satisfy
users, but also on how to remain relevant. The consequence is
repositioning of their resources, operations, services and the skills of
the professionals manning them. Resources today occur in hybridized
form: print and electronic, and therefore services provided and skills
possessed by professionals in these libraries should reflect that trend
(Crow, 2002: (Cisse 2004).
Users of university libraries are now looking for librarians who
can help them identify the resources they would use for their academic
work, and that librarians of university libraries can be true friends of
library patrons by assisting them to go through their academics,
businesses, project work, etc. It is with this reason that, the
collection management practices of every university library is crucial
(Dilevko, 2013, pp. 4-6). This is one of the activities that are
undertaken by all university libraries to ensure that the right
information resources are made available for library users (Kumar,
2012).
According to Alemna (2005), if care should be taken to promote and
make indigenous medicine acceptable then, libraries need to play a
leading role in harnessing knowledge on indigenous medicine. The mode of
operations of traditional healthcare should be exposed through
documentation and readiness to make information available since in the
view of the World Health Organisation (2008) the main component of
primary healthcare is community health, which incorporates indigenous
knowledge into the scheme of primary healthcare. Greyling (2010) noted
that while libraries in some developed countries preserve indigenous
knowledge, the situation is different in Africa. That is why in the
opinion of Alemna (2005), theories developed by librarians for
collection; organisation, preservation and dissemination of other
information resourcescan be applied to the collection and management of
indigenous knowledge in all fields of endeavour.
Though indigenous knowledge is an emerging field in library
science, Joel (2005) believes that libraries have a pivotal role to play
since they constitute one of the significant agents of formal education.
In Africa most herbal practitioners are illiterates and they communicate
orally in this respect librarians could just record and store the
conversation for future documentation (Human Language Technology, 201).
This is buttressed by the statement of Addy (1970, p. 4), who noted that
the dearth of traditional knowledge in medicine in Ashanti exists as
oral literature and should be preserved through a society's
socio-economic growth and development.
Among the information professionals selective dissemination of
information (SDI) is the act of knowing the profile or the interest of
users of the library and then directing relevant materials to them as
and when the documents are available (Prytherch, 2005, p. 625).
Dissemination of information in indigenous medicine to individual users
of the libraries or those with special needs could be carried out
through SDI service.
Methodology
This paper adopted the descriptive survey design and the targeted
population for the study was fifty-eight para-professional and
professional librarians of four well established (old) public
universities in Ghana and traditional medical practitioners. The
researchers used the purposive sampling technique for library staff and
simple random sampling technique to select thirty alternative healthcare
practitioners. Questionnaires were distributed to the para-professional
and professional librarians whilst the traditional medical practitioners
were interviewed. The alternative healthcare practitioners included
herbalists, birth attendants, spiritualists, traditional psychiatrists
and bonesetters.
The response rate for library staff was 90% and that of indigenous
medicine practitioners was 100% due to the active involvement of the
researchers. Quantitative data collected was analysed using simple
tables with frequencies and percentages, while qualitative data was
analysed thematically. Based on the findings and conclusion,
recommendations were made.
Data analysis
Gender of respondents
In table 1, the study showed that most of the respondents were
males, this is obvious with the indigenous medicinal practitioners; out
of a total of thirty indigenous medicinal practitioners respondents,
63.3% of them were males, whilst the remaining were females. On the
issue of age, the study showed that the majority of the respondents
thus, 84.6% of librarian respondents and 76.7% of indigenous medicinal
respondents were more than forty five years of age.
Usage, efficacy and quality of indigenous medicine
Table 2 shows that the majority of the library respondents
representing 96.00% of the respondents have being patronising indigenous
medicine. In a follow up question, respondents who indicated that they
have been using traditional medicine were asked to point out how
efficacious indigenous medicine was. Eighty percent of the librarian
respondents indicated that indigenous medicine was good. To ascertain
the quality of alternative medicine, librarian respondents were asked to
indicate their view, table 2 showed that 76.00% of them were of the view
that the quality of indigenous medicine was good.
Methods of acquiring and availability of indigenous informational
resources
Table 3 revealed the various methods used by the university
libraries to acquire resources in indigenous medicine. To ensure
anonymity alphabets were used to represent the various libraries. It can
be seen that a greater number of librarian respondents in Library A
indicated that indigenous knowledge was acquired through storytelling
and writing representing (42.9% each). Whilst videotaping was 14.2%
In Library B, 28.6% indicated storytelling, 46.4% writing and 25.0
% videotaping. Whilst in Library C, 50% indicated storytelling, 25%,
writing and another 25% videotaping. The result for Library D also
indicated 33.3%, 50.0 % and 16.7% for storytelling, writing and
videotaping respectively. In general, the study revealed that 44.2% of
the librarian respondents indicated that writing was the mode of
acquiring knowledge on indigenous medicine, followed by 34.6% of them
indicating storytelling and 21.1% of them stating videotaping as the
method of acquisition.
The researchers wanted to know if there were informational
resources in indigenous medicine in the libraries of study. In response
to this question, all the librarian respondents in Library A, C and D
and 71.4 5% of Library B indicated that the information sources were not
enough, whilst only 28.6% respondents of Library B indicated that
materials on indigenous medicine in their library was quite enough.
What do you think university libraries should do to manage
knowledge on indigenous medicine?
Para professional and processional librarians were asked to state
how knowledge on indigenous medicine could be managed. Most of them
(27.0%) stated that indigenous practitioners should be encouraged to
write books. This was followed by 21.3 % of the respondents who
indicated that library and information professionals should contact
indigenous medicinal practitioners for information and document such
information as well. About 18.9 % of the respondents also revealed that
scholars should be encouraged to research into indigenous medicine. In
the same vain, 16.4 % of them also pointed out that libraries should
acquire enough books on indigenous medicine. About 16.0% percent of
respondents indicated that a section in the libraries should be created
for indigenous information resources on indigenous medicine.
Interview with indigenous medical practitioners
What are ways of preserving indigenous knowledge among indigenous
medicine practitioners?
In response to this question, 29.8% of the indigenous practitioner
respondents were of the view that they preserve their knowledge through
experiential instruction. This was followed by 25.5% of them who stated
that preservation of information is done through storytelling. 20.0% of
the indigenous practitioner respondents also indicated that preservation
of indigenous knowledge is done through writing, whilst 10.6% of them
stated that they preserve their knowledge in indigenous medicine through
audio recording. The least method used for preserving indigenous
knowledge was digitalizing (4.3 %) as noted in Table 5.
Are librarians involved in the preservation of knowledge in
indigenous medicine?
In response to the above question about eighty percent of the
indigenous practitioners respondents revealed that librarians do not
take part in the preservation process, whilst the remaining twenty
percent stated that "I do not know". In a follow up question,
indigenous practitioners were asked whether they have ever used the
library before; on this note most of them stated " I used the
library when I was a student". Only 5% of them stated they still
use the library for other purposes.
Alternative healthcare practitioner respondents were also asked
whether they have some link with librarians as far as their job is
concerned. In response to this question all the respondents revealed
that they had no links at all with librarians.
Which role should be played by indigenous medicine practitioners in
the management of knowledge in indigenous medicine?
Though about 50% agreed to release their work for publication, some
discouraging responses were;
"Librarians should be friends of indigenous medical
practitioners, so that whatever information we have could be easily
researched into and documented"
"Since librarians have been trained in how to acquire, process
and disseminate information, they should come to us for what we
have""
"Sometimes we are afraid that we may lose our job if we expose
our secrets to people of other professions so librarians should be ready
to pay us for the information we give them "
"As far as our job is concerned, if the issue of copyright law
is not well handled, some of us will keep what we have to
ourselves"
About 3.00% of them do not know what a library is, but on the
whole, the majority of the indigenous medicine respondents claimed that
the government needs to create an environment that will entice them to
allow their practices to be documented, else librarians cannot do much.
So, librarians need to propagate the role of indigenous medicine in
socio-economic development.
Discussion of findings
The study revealed that there was low number of young practitioners
and women in indigenous medicine, this finding is supported by a similar
work conducted by Chuma (2013) and Ebijuwa and Mabawonka (2015) in
Nigeria. The study revealed young adults and women consider indigenous
medicine as a profession for the elderly men. This finding calls for
documentation of information on indigenous medicine as the death of the
elderly practitioners will truncate the flow of indigenous knowledge in
alternative medicine.
The study also revealed that the majority of the respondents used
traditional medicine because of how efficacious it is. This is evident
by the number of people who patronise alternative healthcare centres
like the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine in Mampong
Akuapem in Ghana (Owusu-Ansah, 2014). This finding is also supported by
Ebijuwa, (2015, p. 44) that indigenous medicine is highly patronised by
most people in Nigeria.
On the issue of methods of acquisition of indigenous knowledge in
medicine, the study revealed that all the libraries acquire indigenous
knowledge through writing; this means that the libraries uinder study
acquire some books on indigenous medicine. This finding supports what
Chisenga (2002, p. 16) said about African countries, according to him,
Africans produce some amount of indigenous information and knowledge
relevant to development. However, according to the librarian
respondents, the indigenous medicine sources of information in their
libraries were not enough. Alemna (2005) noted if care should be taken
to promote and make indigenous medicine acceptable, libraries need to
play a leading role in harnessing knowledge in indigenous medicine
through documentation and readiness to make information available.
The finding on preservation of information revealed that a greater
number of indigenous medicine practitioners preserve their knowledge
through experiential instruction; this presupposes that they pass on
whatever they have to only those around them. This confirms the fact
that some amount of knowledge in indigenous medicine is tacit knowledge
which is gained through experience and continuous practical activities
(Durham, 2004). The explicit knowledge aspect of indigenous knowledge of
indigenous medicine is also not well transmitted by librarians, as noted
by Hwa-Wei, (2005). Hwa-Wei, (2005) believes that the preservation of
information and knowledge has been regarded as the task for librarians
and libraries and that much needs to be done by information
professionals.
The study again revealed that some indigenous medicine
practitioners in Africa are not aware of the role of librarians in
preserving the knowledge they produce that is why Greyling (2010) noted
that while libraries in some developed countries preserve indigenous
knowledge, the situation is different in Africa. Alemna (2005) also adds
his voice by saying that theories developed by librarians for
collection; organisation, preservation and dissemination of other
information can be applied to the collection management of indigenous
knowledge and it is high time university librarians became true friends
of indigenous medicine practitioners (Ebijuwa, 2015).
Conclusion
Libraries are regarded as agents of education and aid in the
acquisition and advancement of knowledge in all spheres of life.
Libraries are important intellectual resource of the academic community;
they help to fulfill the curriculum requirements and promote studies and
research. Management in librarianship is a combination of several
activities which basically deal with the planning, maintenance,
preservation, evaluation and dissemination of the library's
collection.
Indigenous knowledge in alternative medicine has been in existence
for years; however, the mode of management of this knowledge has been
limited to the practitioners only. The tactic nature of some knowledge
in indigenous medicine has also made it difficult to be documented. In
librarianship, management of indigenous knowledge in all endeavors a
recent development. The study pointed out that librarians need to be
proactive in order to avoid loss of knowledge on indigenous in medicine.
Recommendations
The study recommended amongst others that;
Firstly, university libraries should intensify the advocacy role of
acquiring books and non-book resources on indigenous medicine.
Secondly, libraries should organise seminars periodically on
indigenous medicine and use indigenous medicine practitioners as
resources persons; through this the gap between librarians and
indigenous practitioners will be bridged.
Thirdly, librarians need to make known to alternative healthcare
providers how secured their works are under their care
A section in the library should be created for the informational
resources on indigenous medicine, and that such materials could be in
both print and non print formats
The only Library school in Ghana at the University of Ghana, Legon
should develop a core course in Indigenous Knowledge Management so that
students who will go through the programme could be taught the
managerial aspect of indigenous medicine.
Libraries of the following institutions; universities, Ghana
Standard Authority, the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research
and Noguchi Memorial Institute Medical Research should intensify their
interlibrary lending services for information resources on indigenous
medicine.
The Ghana Library Association should institute prize award for
academic libraries that have well structured programmes of advocacy on
indigenous medicine.
A gallery for indigenous medicine should be created in the
libraries, where some of the products of indigenous medicine can be
showcased; this will let alternative healthcare practitioners feel part
of the library.
Christopher Kwame Filson
University of Cape Coast, Ghana,
[email protected]
Paulina Afful Arthur Mrs
[email protected]
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Table 1 Biographic data of respondents
Variables Librarians (52) Indigenous Medical
Practitioners (30)
Sex Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Male 36 69.2 19 63.3
Female 16 30.8 11 36.7
Age
25-35 2 3.8 2 6.7
36-45 5 9.6 5 16.7
46-55 41 78.8 10 33.3
Above 56 4 7.7 13 43.3
Sources: field data 2016
Table 2 Distribution of the librarian respondents by usage, efficacy
and quality of indigenous medicine
Variables Response Frequency Percentages
%
Have you been using indigenous Yes 50 96.1
medicine? No 2 3.9
Efficacy of indigenous medicine Poor 2 4.0
Fair 5 5.0
Good 40 80.0
Very Good 3 6.0
How do you rate the quality Poor 2 4.0
level of indigenous medicine? Fair 7 14.0
Good 38 76.0
Very good 3 6.0
Source: Field 2016
Table 3 -Distribution of the librarian respondents by the degree of
involvement of libraries in indigenous medicine resources
Variables Library Response Frequency Percentage
Method of acquiring A = 14 Storytelling 6 42.9
indigenous resources Writing 6 42.9
in Medicine you videotaping 2 14.2
know? others - -
B= 28 Storytelling 8 28.6
Writing 13 46.4
videotaping 7 25.0
others - -
C=4 Storytelling 1 25.0
Writing 2 50.0
videotaping 1 25.0
others - -
D=6 Storytelling 2 33.3
Writing 3 50.0
videotaping 1 16.7
others - -
How do you quantify A= 14 Not enough 14 100%
information Quite enough
resources of Enough
indigenous medicine
in your library? B= 28 Not enough 20 71.4
Quite enough 8 28.6
Enough
C= 4 Not enough 4 100
Quite enough
Enough
D= 6 Not enough 6 100
Quite enough
Enough
Source: Field data 2016
Table 4 Distribution of library respondents on the expected role of
university libraries
Response Frequency Percentage
%
Encourage scholars to research into 23 18.9
indigenous medicine
Acquire books on indigenous medicine 20 16.4
Encourage indigenous medical practitioners to 33 27.0
write books
Create a section for indigenous medicine in 20 16.4
all libraries
Libraries should contact indigenous medicine 26 21.3
practitioners for information and document
them
Total 122 100
Source: Field data 2016
Table 5 Distribution by librarian respondents by ways of preserving
indigenous knowledge in indigenous medicine
Methods of preserving indigenous Frequency Percentage ( %)
knowledge
Storytelling 24 25.5
Videotaping 9 9.6
Experiential instruction 28 29.8
Writing 19 20.2
Audio recording 10 10.6
Digitalizing 4 4.3
