Background information

Kiribati traditional medicine includes bonesetting, herbal medicine, massage, traditional birth attendance, and word and wind medicine (248). Allopathic medicine was introduced to Kiribati during the colonial period in the early 1890s. In the 1940s, traditional medicine was outlawed on the grounds that there was no scientific evidence as to its efficacy. Despite the prohibition, traditional medicine continued to be practised (249).

Regulatory situation

The Medical and Dental Practitioners (Amended) Act of 1981 (250) authorizes some aspects of traditional medicine in Section 37, which states, "Nothing in the Medical and Dental Practitioners Ordinance shall affect the right of anyone of Kiribati to practise in a responsible manner Kiribati traditional healing by means of herbal therapy, bonesetting and massage, and to demand and recover reasonable charges in respect of such practice."