Dr. Safia Debar continues “When Science Met Soul” by highlighting African traditional medicine through the story of Charles Stevens, who recovered from tuberculosis in the late 1800s using a South African healer’s plant remedy later identified as Pelargonium sidoides (African geranium), now supported by clinical trials, a Cochrane review, and UK studies for bronchitis as an antibiotic alternative. She argues African healing is the oldest yet most under-researched tradition, disrupted by colonialism’s dismantling of oral knowledge, despite widespread reliance on traditional medicine and WHO support for integration. Central is Ubuntu—“a person is a person through other persons”—presented as a clinical model of relational health, aligned with WHO 2024 findings on loneliness and research on social connection and polyvagal regulation. She also reviews evidence on rooibos and devil’s claw, and offers practical “prescriptions”: audit real co-regulating relationships, consider African geranium for respiratory infections, and mindfully drink rooibos.

00:00 Stevens TB Remedy
03:37 Why Africa Ignored
07:42 Ubuntu Explained
11:04 Connection Science
14:33 Polyvagal Meets Ubuntu
17:38 Medicinal Plants Evidence
21:51 Why Research Lags
23:34 Three Part Prescription
26:50 Series Wrap Up
29:05 Final Takeaway

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Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator

One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
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