Paper short abstract:

The paper questions the process of construction of new expertise of africain and asian medicines in the domain of health and the appropriations by experts and lay people of the prevention and management of cardiovascular illnesses.

Paper long abstract:

The researches on medical pluralism put in evidence the therapeutic choices made by patients and their family during the illness of an individual (Fassin, 1992; Good, 1994). John Janzen pointed out the existence of the "therapeutic management group" (Janzen, 1987). Nowadays with the globalization process, most African countries are experiencing the promotion of "traditional medicines". Especially in poor health resources setting were chronic diseases are becoming public health issues.

This paper aims at analyzing medical pluralism how global, national and regional flows of health care resources shape management of non-communicable diseases in Cameroon such as cardiovascular illnesses. With the rise of new actors of health systems presenting themselves either as partners of the State, or concurrent of the State's delivery of health system particularly regarding prevention and the management of chronic diseases in poor health resources settlement. The paper questions the process of construction of new expertise in the domain of health and the appropriations by experts and lay people of the prevention and management of cardiovascular illnesses. How does the encounter of traditional medicines of Africa and Asia, shape professional trajectories of caregivers trained in biomedicine? What does it suggest in terms of new conceptions of body, illness and disease? How does it change the lay people's knowledge on body and medicines? What new forms of legitimacy are to take into account in the prevention and management of these diseases?