Re-Africanization in Healthcare Post-Globalization Through Ancestral Praxis Countering Medical Neocolonialism and Bioprospecting in the 21st Century

Abstract

Amid the rise of Western populist nationalism and the retreat from transnational biomedical hegemony (Fofana, 2021), this study argues for Africa's re-emergence as the cradle of medicine through Re-Africanization—the epistemic and structural revitalization of Indigenous health systems (Asante, 2017). Employing an Africological framework (Shockley, 2023) and decolonial theory (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021), the paper critiques neoliberal healthcare models that sustain medical apartheid (Washington, 2008) and advances ancestral African healing traditions (e.g., Ubuntu-informed care, Yoruba ethnomedicine, and Dagara spiritual therapeutics) as viable alternatives. Methodologically, the study synthesizes historiographic analysis (Diop, 1974/2020) with contemporary policy reviews, including Ghana's Traditional Medicine Practice Act (Act 575 of 2000) and Brazil's PNSIPN (2017), to demonstrate how pre-colonial African systems—rooted in prevention, ecological balance, and collective wellness (Shizha & Kariwo, 2021)—counteract biomedical commodification. Three key pillars of Re-Africanized healthcare emerge: (1) intergenerational knowledge transmission (Battiste, 2013), (2) diasporic health solidarity (Táíwò, 2022), and (3) resistance to bioprospecting (Hountondji, 2002). Despite challenges such as epistemicide (Santos, 2018) and regulatory neocolonialism, the study positions Re-Africanization as a critical praxis for addressing contemporary health crises, from COVID-19 inequities (Twahirwa Rwema et al., 2020) to mental health decolonization. By centering Diop's call for cultural sovereignty, the paper asserts that ancestral healthcare models offer actionable frameworks for Pan-African health justice in a deglobalizing world.