Herbal Healing and Ancestral Knowledge in Focus at Belize Conference

The Second International Conference on Traditional Healing kicked off in the Cayo District today. It brought together traditional healers, complementary medicine practitioners, and medical doctors for a three-day event. The forum serves as a platform to showcase the richness of ancestral healing practices while engaging in discussions on preserving these traditions for future generations.

Hugo Carillo, Director of U Chan Muul Yaax K’aax, highlighted the importance of bridging the gap between traditional healers and modern medical professionals. “We have traditional healers, who are the keepers, and we have medical doctors and nurses. We have to see both sides,” Carillo explained. He added that there are rich traditional beliefs of the Yucatec Maya culture and shared the importance of passing this knowledge down to younger generations, especially in the face of challenges like climate change and deforestation.

The conference is supported by the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH). Rolando Cocom, Director of the Institute for Social and Cultural Research (ISCR), stressed the importance of collaboration between traditional and certified medical practitioners. “It is an important conversation because, as we know, most Belizeans in some way or another at some point in their life. The Belizean people would have used herbs, for instance, to treat an ailment or to treat a disease,” Cocom said. He advocated for a partnership between formal healthcare systems and traditional practices, seeing them as complementary.

General physician Danny Yacob also weighed in on the balance between traditional and modern medicine, saying, “We don’t only focus on the scientific and the medical part. We always try to include the herbal part of it. Because medicine as a whole is a holistic approach. It’s an approach centred not just on medication, but you also have to teach the patients what they have to eat.”

The event features a range of topics, including at-home healing methods, healthy dieting practices, and herbal approaches to mental health. Dr. Maria Lucia Goncalves, a committee member, emphasised that traditional teachings must be researched and integrated into modern medicine. “Everybody has a traditional medication home. You have the abuelita, the grandmother, grandfather, and natural healers who tell the neighbours who give you some medication. Sometimes we take a different approach,” she explained.