Influence of Modernization on the Preservation of Bukusu Traditional Healers’ Knowledge in Bungoma County – Kenya

Traditional medicine and indigenous healing practices represent a significant component of healthcare systems worldwide. There is increased global demand for traditional healing and its integration into influencing medical care. This has raised concerns with some countries constructing regulatory structures for the integration of traditional medicine and medical care and health standards for work safety training. The indigenous people living in the Amazon who practice traditional medicine are struggling to keep the practice alive due to rapid deforestation of the land. Similar challenges are experienced in Kenya, with the Bukusu people of Bungoma County, western Kenya, maintaining a sophisticated traditional healing system that dates back several centuries, yet faces unprecedented challenges from modernization processes. These contemporary activities are creating a challenge on the existence and the future of traditional therapeutic practices among the Bukusu traditional healers. This study aimed at examining the influence of technological advancement on transmission of traditional healing knowledge among Bukusu healers, determine the community’s perception on the role of modern healthcare integration in preserving Bukusu traditional healing practices and to assess how urbanization influences the accessibility of traditional medicinal plants used by Bukusu healers. The research was guided by Modernization Theory and Symbolic Interactionism Theory to understand societal transformation and meaning-making processes within traditional healing contexts. The study employed an ethnographic research design utilizing mixed-methods of data collection including key informant interviews, focus group discussion (FGDs) with traditional healers, surveys with community members and medical practitioners. The study employed snowball and purposive sampling techniques with a sample size of 100 respondents. Data was analysed thematically for qualitative components and through descriptive statistics for quantitative data. The findings revealed that 76% of medical practitioners and 82% of community members acknowledged technology’s positive role in preserving traditional knowledge, though 75-78% expressed concerns about knowledge distortion and threats to sacredness; 90% of medical practitioners and 89% of community members supported healthcare integration, yet only 15% of practitioners had referred patients to traditional healers due to policy gaps and lack of formal protocols; and 86% of medical practitioners and 87% of community members recognized that urbanization has negatively affected medicinal plant accessibility, with traditional healers now traveling 15-30 kilometres to access plants once available locally, while specific species like “Kamulakho / Shisilangokho / Kumusilangokho” ,that is, Clerodendrum myricoides, have become rare or extinct. The study concludes that modernization influences traditional healing through complex negotiations rather than simple displacement, with technology serving as both preservation tool and cultural threat, healthcare integration showing strong theoretical support but weak practical implementation, and urbanization creating significant barriers to plant accessibility while disrupting knowledge transmission systems. The study recommends establishing community-controlled digital documentation frameworks with cultural protocols, developing formal healthcare integration policy frameworks that recognize traditional healers as legitimate partners, and implementing community-based conservation programs that integrate traditional ecological knowledge into urban planning processes to ensure the continued viability of Bukusu traditional healing systems in rapidly changing contexts.