Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that the Covid-19 pandemic in Uganda has significantly changed the perception and role of traditional herbal medicine in public discourse as well as in political and legal terms - as a source for public health care, income generation and a way out of dependence on Western medicine.

Paper long abstract:

Covid-19 posed major challenges for Uganda such as high morbidity and mortality rates in summer 21, accompanied by a lack of Western drugs, and inadequate supply of vaccines. Months of logdown, strict curfews and limited public transport further hampered access to public health care facilities and left the population in a “medical vacuum”.

This gave a boost to since colonial times strongly stigmatized traditional herbal medicine, which became noticeable in various areas:

People increasingly resorted to self-medication with plants, to increase immunity and control symptoms and rapidly disseminated respective information, beliefs, practices and experiences via social media.

The medicines generated hope and self-empowerment but also led to an inflation of "charlatans" and dubious TV advertising. At the same time, there were calls for raised quality control issues at the political-legal level. The government increasingly supported scientific research and commercial production of plants and herbal drugs. Some herbal drugs, such as Covidex, were approved by the government and led to large economic profits. The high production generated a high demand for plant material with corresponding ecological implications, which in turn increased public awareness of ecological issues.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, traditional medicine is being renegotiated in public discourse and the stigma attached to it since the "Witchcraft act" of the 1950s is being shed.

In a collaborative project between the Uganda National Museum, the Igongo Cultural Center and the University of Zurich we investigate the role of museums as platform for exchange between the different stakeholders in the field of traditional medicine