Cultural Changes and Their Influences on Medical Practices among the Kwahu People of Ghana (c. 1700-2019)

Abstract

The cultural values of any group of people correlates with the practice of medicine either in traditional or advanced societies. Using a qualitative research approach, the study accounts for the changes in culture and how it has influenced the medical practice of the Kwahu people of Ghana in particular. Cultural values in the Kwahu vicinity and the world at large has gone through changes over time. In this vein, the practice of medicine which is embedded cultural constructs have experienced some changes since the cultural values of the people have gone through enormous metamorphosis. Although the values of culture -on their own- changes overtime, this paper associate most of the changes with the community’s encounter with the Europeans dominance on the African continent. Factors such as Christianity, formal education, individualism, urbanization and others as discussed in this empirical research, have served as the major drivers of social change; the combination of these social forces have impacted the nature of medical practice among the people of Kwahu. The current study has built on studies like that of Twumasi (1975), Adu Gyamfi (2010; 2015; 2016) and other scholars. The current contribution concludes among other things that the youth are the major exhibitors of social change. Practitioners have therefore seen the need to use up to date technology and skills to meet the changing needs of the changing times and that of the increasing youthful population.