A Postcolonial Reflection on Indigenous Knowledge Systems-Based Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare: A Case of the Ndau Women in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Modern healthcare is positioned at the frontier of healthcare delivery, particularly in Africa. Hence, Western perspectives and related practices have, and continue to have, an impact on African healthcare, including sexual and reproductive healthcare. The focus of this chapter is to foreground the fact that people live in diverse cultural settings which influence their knowledge systems, inclusive of reproductive, social and cultural practices and how these can be deployed to promote SDG 3, “Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages,” and SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Framed within a postcolonial indigenous research paradigm, the chapter endeavours to illustrate the contribution of African indigenous knowledge systems on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) to women’s health as part of the SDGs. Drawing insights from the Ndau women of south-eastern Zimbabwe, the chapter adopts the phenomenological analysis approach. The lived realities of the Ndau women are used to illuminate the fact that indigenous beliefs and practices for managing sexual and reproductive health are deeply embedded in indigenous societies; hence they are considered the standard of living and well-being for the local people. The chapter also highlights how such beliefs and practices are inherent to the lifestyle of the local people constituting part of the daily survival strategies of indigenous communities. This chapter elucidates how the initiatives by Ndau women reflect the agency and centrality of African people in managing sexual and reproductive health, with the potential of contributing to SDGs 3 and 5. Emphasis is also placed on how their use of community-based knowledge systems guarantees them access to culturally and ecologically relevant, affordable and sustainable SRH services. The chapter begins by defining indigenous knowledge systems-based sexual and reproductive health (IKS-based SRH). The second section of the chapter discusses the rationale for the promotion of IKS-based SRH and its value proposition. The concluding part proffers alternative ways for preserving indigenous knowledge systems for posterity and how this can advance the achievement of SDGs 3 and 5, and others.