Community-Based Participatory Research on Indigenous Health Knowledge and Biomedical Integration in Yoruba Communities of Ekiti State, South West Nigeria

The integration of indigenous health knowledge into biomedical public health practice remains a contested and undertheorised domain in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly regarding the epistemological conditions that enable or obstruct meaningful knowledge integration. This study applies Community-Based Participatory Research to examine indigenous Yoruba health knowledge systems and the social, epistemic, and structural conditions under which integration with biomedical public health is feasible and beneficial in Ekiti State. The research is conducted across four communities in Ekiti Central, Ekiti South West, and Ekiti North geopolitical zones over 28 months, engaging 130 participants including traditional healers (Babalawo and Onisegun), community health workers, primary healthcare facility heads, community members, and Ekiti State Ministry of Health officials. Methods include participatory mapping of indigenous health practices, ethnographic observation at traditional healing spaces, semi-structured interviews, and collaborative meaning-making workshops. A systematic comparative catalogue of indigenous treatments for malaria, maternal conditions, and mental illness is developed alongside an epistemological analysis of compatibility with biomedical frameworks. Decolonial Theory, Medical Pluralism, and the Biocultural Model of health provide the inter-theoretical framework. The study's original contribution is a co-produced Integration Readiness Framework specifying the conditions, boundaries, and mechanisms of responsible indigenous-biomedical health knowledge integration. Findings will inform the Ekiti State Traditional Medicine Board and Federal Ministry of Health on constructive policy pathways. Keywords: indigenous health knowledge, biomedical integration, Yoruba, community-based participatory research, Ekiti State.