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Published on: April 6, 2019
Towards a transactional medicine approach to combating global emerging pathogens: the case of COVID-19
Abdou Simon Senghor1, Mame Salah Mbaye2, Rougui Diop3
1Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research (P-SHOR), University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Insights
Transactional medicine integrates traditional and modern medical approaches for COVID-19 treatment. This collaborative model enhances knowledge exchange and recognizes the value of diverse therapeutic strategies against emerging pathogens.
Area of Science:
- Integrative Medicine
- Global Health
- Pharmacology
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for effective treatments.
- Modern and traditional medicine offer distinct therapeutic options for COVID-19.
- Many proposed treatments lacked scientific validation, necessitating novel approaches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a transactional medicine approach for integrating traditional and modern medical practices.
- To foster knowledge exchange between proponents of traditional and modern medicine.
- To establish a framework for decolonizing medicine and valuing diverse therapeutic systems.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual framework development for transactional medicine.
- Analysis of existing COVID-19 treatment strategies from both modern and traditional perspectives.
- Exploration of interaction models between different medical systems.
Main Results:
- Transactional medicine facilitates mutual learning between traditional healers and modern medical practitioners.
- This approach acknowledges the effectiveness and accessibility of traditional treatments alongside biomedical therapies.
- It provides a pathway for validating and integrating diverse medical knowledge.
Conclusions:
- Transactional medicine offers a collaborative model for addressing COVID-19 and future pandemics.
- Decolonizing medicine through this approach recognizes the value of both traditional and modern systems.
- Integrating diverse medical knowledge is crucial for global health security.
Abstract:
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and China reported the first case to the World Health Organization in December 2019, there was no evidence-based treatment to combat it. With the catastrophic situation that followed, materialised by a considerable number of deaths, researchers, doctors, traditional healers, and governments of all nations committed themselves to find therapeutic solutions, including preventive and curative. There are effective treatments offered both by modern medicine and traditional medicine for COVID-19 today. However, other therapeutic proposals have not been approved due to the lack of effectiveness and scientific rigour during their development process. Proponents of modern medicine prefer biomedical therapies while in some countries, traditional treatments are used regularly because of their availability, affordability and satisfaction they bring to the population. In this paper, we propose a transactional medicine approach where the interaction between traditional and modern medicine produces a change. With this approach, the promoters of traditional medicine and those of modern medicine will be able to acquire knowledge through the experience produced by their encounters. Transactional medicine aims to be a model for decolonising medicine and recognising the value of both traditional and modern medicine in the fight against COVID-19 and other global emerging pathogens.
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