Traditional Cambodian medicine

Traditional Cambodian medicine (Khmer:វេជ្ជសាស្រ្តបូរាណខ្មែរ) comprise several traditional medicine systems in Cambodia.

Healers and herbalists of Cambodian traditional medicine are collectively referred to as Kru Khmer (Khmer:គ្រូខ្មែរ). There are many regional variations of the practice and herbal knowledge of traditional medicine within Cambodia. Traditional Cambodian medical practices are widely used in Cambodia.

Even though health is among the Cambodian governments five most important issues, the healthcare system in the country is inadequate and people in more remote villages in the provinces have difficulty obtaining health care. This situation is reflected in many developing countries and, in part for this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting the use of and preservation of knowledge of several traditional medicines in many of these areas across the globe, including Cambodia.

Because of the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Vietnamese populations of Cambodia, traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Vietnamese medicine are also practiced and represented in the country.

Practitioners of traditional Cambodian medicine are called Kru Khmer (or alternately kru khmae) (គ្រូខ្មែរ) meaning "Khmer teachers", and the teacher-student aspect between practitioner and patient is of central importance to the consultation. Kru Khmers specialise in several categories, such as bone setting, herbalism or divining. Various animal parts, minerals and tattoos are sometimes involved. In the framework of traditional Cambodian medicine, the supernatural world can both cure and cause illness and therefore the definitions between what is medicinal and what is spiritual is often blurred.

Khmer traditional medicine share with Chinese traditional medicine three explanatory models of disease: supernaturalistic theory, naturalistic theory, and maintenance of a hot-cold (yin-yang) balance. Four forms of therapy are delivered by medical and para-medical personnel: spirit offerings, dermabrasion, maintaining hot-cold balance, and herbal medicines.

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