Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Health Engineering
This paper examines the convergence of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Modern Health Engineering to create inclusive, culturally responsive, and sustainable health solutions. Indigenous Knowledge, a dynamic, adaptive system rooted in generations of communal experience, has historically played a pivotal role in ecosystem management, health maintenance, and disease prevention. Yet, modern health frameworks often marginalize it in favor of biomedical paradigms. Through historical analysis, case studies, ethical discourse, and policy critique, this paper investigates how Indigenous knowledge particularly it’s ecological, medicinal, and spiritual dimensions can enrich health engineering practices. It emphasizes collaborative approaches, legal protections, and the importance of vernacularizing scientific knowledge for local application. The paper calls for a shift from extractive models to reciprocal partnerships that value Indigenous epistemologies and practices as essential to global health resilience, especially in an era of decolonization and sustainability challenges.