HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Rome, Italy or Virtually from your home or work.

8th Edition of International Conference on

Traditional Medicine, Ethnomedicine and Natural Therapies

June 05-07, 2025 | Rome, Italy

Traditional Medicine 2022

Revisiting the Medicine of Hippocrates

Speaker at Traditional Medicine, Ethnomedicine and Natural Therapies 2022 - Rashid Bhikha
Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb, South Africa
Title : Revisiting the Medicine of Hippocrates

Abstract:

The recognition of Hippocrates as the “Father of Medicine” is the result on his impact on medicine over two thousand five hundred years and even as we know it today. Although some healthcare professionals are aware that Hippocrates hypothesised the theory of humours and the importance of recognizing the body’s self-healing ability, known as vis medicatrix naturae, it needs to be noted that Hippocrates also conceptualised the importance of the uniqueness of an individual, in relation to the environment, in the maintenance of health and treatment. More significantly Hippocrates is known for transforming the practice of medicine which included superstition and magic, to a scientific system based on the principle of cause and effect, with professionalism and medical ethics, which is recognised even today, with the Hippocratic oath being committed to by qualifying doctors. This presentation includes the contribution of physicians and philosophers up to the 13th century including Galen, Ibn Sina etc. who elaborated on the uniqueness of an individual, known as temperament as well as the relationship between the individual and the environment described as essential/lifestyle factors encompassed within the philosophical principles of the medicine of Hippocrates including physis (vis medicatrix naturae), humours, temperament, essential/lifestyle factors within the context of aetiology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment. The presentation concludes with the Institute’s contribution to the medicine of Hippocrates in researching and validating the temperamental and humoral theories as well as highlighting the relationship between physis, temperament, humours and essential/lifestyle factors.

Biography:

Prof Rashid Bhikha – He is the founder of the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb, South Africa. Prof Bhikha began his career as a pharmacist in 1969. In 1997, he introduced Tibb to the South African region after researching different health therapies worldwide following a personal life trauma. He initiated the training of Unani-Tibb at the School of Natural Medicine at the University of the Western Cape in 2003. In addition to the many papers, he has presented in International and National Conferences, he has authored numerous books.

Watsapp