2.5 The Importance of Preservation of Traditional Medicine
Preservation of Traditional Herbal Medicine is very necessary because of its usefulness in sustainable development in the country. According to translation provided by indigenous peoples issues and resources: it aims to recognize, respect, protect and promote the practices and expressions of traditional medicine in all specialists, the purpose of this law are noted for promoting the use of traditional medicines based on derivations of plants, animals and minerals or any combination thereof, items of quality, safety, accessibility and accountability Busari, (2011). The traditional role of the library is to preserve knowledge from all facets of human endeavours. The library thus acquires various types of records of information that emanates as a result of various interactions like social, economic, educational, cultural and political sources and also preserve the records that are already in existence. Going through this assertion, it can be deduced that the record of information by the indigenous traditional herbal medical practitioners be it book or non-book materials can be giving to the libraries for proper preservation. Thus, this can be referred to by the students, researchers and this can pass down from generation to generation. Therefore, knowledge acquired would be transferred easily without a waste.
Preservation of herbal resources, protecting the planet’s natural resources is essential for the long- term future of Chinese medicine. In ancient times, wild plants were widely used in Chinese medicine, and many herbs remain primarily collected from wild sources. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) “as many as 80% of the world’s population depends on traditional medicine for their primary health care needsâ€(Fagbola, 2013). Traditional herbal medicine is the sum total of all knowledge and practices, whether explicable or not used in diagnosis, prevention and elimination of physical, mental or social imbalance and relying exclusively or practical experience and observations handed down from generation to generation, whether verbally or in writing, with these descriptions Chisenga (2012).
Records are information resources that could easily be lost in case of disasters such as manmade and natural disaster; for example: fire, flood, war, mutilation, theft, insects and rodents attack and micro-organisms and so on as well as deteriorate as a biological organising losing the information they contain (Alegbeleye, 2010). As a result of this, preservation programme is put in place to protect information resources. According to Joan (2010) Concise Dictionary of Library and Information Science, “preservation†means preservation or being preserved while conservation means the act of keeping free from depletion/decay or injury especially works of arts.
Traditional medicine is not what can be neglected if the development of the traditional medical system are to be achieved. Therefore, it is necessary to protect indigenous traditional herbal medical practitioners from being faded away. Nwokocha (2008) noted that one of the most notable features of medicine in the latter part of the preceeding century were vigorous criticisms against traditional systems of healthcare delivery, almost to the point of suffocation. The consequences are that vital knowledge that might contribute to the future survival of man and animals are gradually being lost. Equally, the gradual extinction of indigenous knowledge systems in African communities including traditional herbal medical knowledge (TMK) may stem from the fact that individuals usually elders in the communities are the repository of traditional medical knowledge. This knowledge is passed down by words of mouth to the trainee who might be a family member.
However, if this knowledge is not passed down, the knowledge is lost with the death of the individual. Some solutions have been proffered to arrest this negative trend. One of such is the resolution by World Health Organisation Executive Board held in January 2009 that emphasized the need for national policies to support integration of Traditional Medicine into health system (Economic and Social Council, 2009). The prevalent theme of the meeting was ensuring that traditional herbal medical knowledge is not lost (preservation) and that its originators are given credit and appropriate reward for their inventions (protection). Preservation of Traditional Medical knowledge therefore involves developing systems that will ensure the continued existence and viability of traditional medical knowledge as well as passing them on to future generation. Anyaoku, Orizu and Enech (2015).
2.6 Information as an Important Tool for Successful Practice of Medical System
Information seem to be an important tool for successful practice in any organisation, it is on the basis of this that Ajayi and Adewale (2010) defined information as the record of idea which could be passed from one person to the other. Information could be through oral, written or printing, it could be a data process.
This is why information is said to be a sequence of symbols that can interpret a message. Information can be recorded as signs, or transmitted as signals. Information is any kind of event that affects the state of dynamic system that can interpret the information. Indigenous people have linkages and guidelines for social- equity relationship with non human beings, ecological responsibility and respect for the super- natural through “information†received by their forefathers. Alhassan (2012) investigated into the traditional knowledge acquisition and transfer among members of the Nupe royal music band in Nigeria and found that traditional knowledge is clearly acquired and transfer mostly within family who are likely to protect their skills and knowledge as inherited sources of income. However, the shortcomings of information acquisition, management and transfer among the traditional herbal medical practitioners include the myths associated with the knowledge, lack of interest, and rural to urban drift by the youth, poor remuneration of members and the negative influences of modernisation on traditional cultures.
