From Africa to Brazil, a parallel between Yoruba traditional medical systems

Abstract

The Yoruba form one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in West Africa. Traditional African Medicine practiced by the Yoruba includes a number of practices employed in general health care services. With the forced coming to America from the Portuguese colonization, these peoples brought their rituals and their vision of medicine to Brazil, originating the religion known as Candomblé. The starting point of the present work was to carry out a review study on Traditional Medicine used by African peoples of Yoruba ethnicity in Africa, drawing a parallel with their descendants who practice Candomblé, in Brazil, in an epistemological perspective, reflecting on history, sciences and health of these peoples, and the challenges to their consolidation as a traditional medical system.