ABSTRACT
Before 1472, African traditional medicine, which includes herbalists, bonesetters, spiritualists, and surgeons, was the only health care delivery system in Nigeria. This chapter analyzes the origin and developmental milestones of the major health care education programs in Nigeria. The birth of Western medicine occurred after 1914, and medicine and dentistry were the first health occupations to become entranced into Nigeria by the Portuguese allopathic physicians. Pharmacy, physical-and-occupational therapy, veterinary medicine, clinical psychology, public and environmental health, and dental therapy were also imported. The other health professions (speech therapy and audiology, radiography, medical laboratory science, optometry, nursing, and midwifery, medical records, nutrition, dietetics, biomedical engineering, prosthesis and orthotics, public and environmental health, chartered chemist, public analysis, and social work) were homebred. Following the importation of the different disciplines into the country, they progressed at varying paces in establishing educational programs and in their quest for true professional status and prestige.
