PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

 ERE O TLHALEFELA NGAKA, LE BOLWETSE O BO TLHALEFELE

Ere o tlhalefa ngaka- when you become wise of the healer

Le bolwetse o bo tlhalefe- also become wise of the sickness

Direct translation- when you become wise of the healer, also become wise of the sickness

Actual meaning- it is better to prevent sickness from occurring in the first place

Indigenous knowledge, and the integration of nature in the process of alleviating sickness has been an integral part of the African culture, with age old knowledge being passed on from one generation to the other. The integration of modern medicine has usurped the significance of this approach to health in the minds of many, yet there are many who still, as it may, enjoy its benefits in the modern world. The approach to most of the models of intervention in modern medicine, seeks to be more on the curative side, instead of focusing of the preventative aspect of matters. This has in most parts, seen the rise of many disease conditions, from new bugs that cause pandemics, to drug resistant ones which refuse to respond to treatment, to the scourge of non-communicable disease conditions that are attributed to, in most parts, our lifestyles. We have become wiser than the healers, with their traditional knowledge on how we ought to secure health, to discarding the very directives of those involved in modern medicine on how we ought to assimilate modern interventions in “curing” diseases. One may wonder, in light of all this, have we become wiser than the sicknesses themselves? The world at this moment is faced with a pandemic, propagated by one of the novel viruses that has hit the surface of the earth. As a cure has not yet been discovered despite its long-standing existence in our midst, the matter of discussion in being all the more solidified in our minds how prevention is indeed better than cure. History need not repeat itself. May we not, yet again, become wiser than our healers, neglecting some of the needful regulation that seek to protect us from the problem at hand. Preventative measures will go a long way in ensuring our well-being, and those of future generations. Keep optimal hygiene, observe social distancing, boil those needful concoctions to keep your immune system at par and stay safe, you owe yourself that much at least.