Africa · Zimbabwe Practitioners 5 September 2026

Zimbabwe was among the earlier African states to give traditional medicine formal legal recognition. The Traditional Medical Practitioners Act of 1981 established a council to register practitioners and regulate practice, and the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) was founded to organise practitioners nationally. Registration requires demonstration of competence and adherence to a code of conduct. In principle this creates accountability, a referral pathway to biomedical services, and a basis for excluding fraudulent practice. Estimates suggest a large share of Zimbabweans consult traditional practitioners, often before or alongside biomedical care. In rural districts a traditional healer may be considerably closer than the nearest clinic, and consultation fees are frequently negotiable in kind. Significant gaps remain. Herbal preparations are not subject to the same quality control, dosage standardisation or adverse-event reporting as registered medicines. Contamination, adulteration and inconsistent potency are documented problems in the regional literature. Referral in practice is often one-directional, and communication between the two systems is weaker than the legislation envisaged. For practitioners, the practical obligations are clear enough: register, keep records, know the limits of your scope, ask patients what else they are taking, and refer promptly where red flags appear. Herb-drug interaction is the most common avoidable harm, particularly with antiretrovirals, anticoagulants, antidiabetics and antihypertensives.

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