Theoretical and Empirical Development of a Pharmacognosy-Based Framework for Integrating Traditional Medicine into Nigeria’s Primary Healthcare System

Despite Nigeria's ambitious primary healthcare revitalisation agenda and the constitutional recognition of traditional medicine in the WHO global health strategy, a coherent pharmacognosy-driven regulatory and integration framework for traditional medicine in Nigeria's primary healthcare system remains absent. This PhD research develops an original theoretical and empirical framework for integrating validated traditional medicine into the Nigerian primary healthcare system, grounded in pharmacognosy principles of evidence generation, standardisation, and regulatory science. A mixed-methods research design was employed across three methodological phases. Phase 1 conducted a systematic review and narrative synthesis of existing integration frameworks from Ghana, South Africa, and India. Phase 2 employed grounded theory using in-depth interviews with 78 key informants including pharmacognosists, clinicians, traditional medicine practitioners, NAFDAC regulators, and primary health centre managers across all six geopolitical zones. Phase 3 developed and subjected a draft Integration Framework to expert Delphi consensus validation over three rounds. The resulting Nigerian Traditional Medicine Integration Framework (NTMIF) comprises six pillars: evidence generation through context-relevant clinical evaluation, pharmacopoeial standardisation, regulatory pathway development, practitioner competency certification, pharmacovigilance infrastructure, and public education. Delphi consensus achieved above 80% agreement across all framework pillars after three rounds. This research contributes an original, nationally validated integration model and proposes specific legislative and institutional mechanisms for its implementation. Keywords: traditional medicine integration, primary healthcare, Nigeria, pharmacognosy framework, NAFDAC