Charlotte White interviews Hattie Wells of the global diversity foundation who came to give a lecture about the medicinal plant knowledge of the San people in Omaheke, South Namibia. After a long interest in the San, Hattie decided to work with them to create the "food safety project" - ensuring that these people living in very difficult conditions in the Namibian desert would be able to have access to a sustainable food source. She is also very interested in their healers, traditional healing rituals and medicinal plant knowledge. One important issue that has come out of her research is the need to foster greater interaction and understanding between healthcare policy and cultural knowledge of "health" and healing. Understanding the way in which people conceive of these words might help to create better understanding between local people and biomedical healthcare providers.
