In South Africa, Tibb is spearheaded by the South African Tibb Association in conjunction with the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb. The Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb was founded by the Bhikha Family Trust in 1997 as a non-profit organisation aimed at promoting the philosophy of Tibb. Any profits accrued by the Institute are used for welfare projects and increasing awareness of the Tibb philosophy.

Tibb was approved in August 2001 by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA), and so stands alongside Homeopathy, Chiropractic, Naturopathy and other healing systems. On the 14th September 2007, after ten years of perseverance, a notice in the Government Gazette announced the opening of the register for Unani-Tibb, thus enabling Tibb doctors to register with the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa. This was a huge accomplishment for the South African Tibb Association as well as the 100 plus doctors who have graduated from the University of the Western Cape’s School of Natural Medicine with post graduate diplomas in Tibb, as well as a further six Tibb Doctors who qualified in 2007 with an undergraduate degree in Unani-Tibb Medicine at UWC.

Academically, the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb is supported by Hamdard University in Pakistan, Jamia Hamdard and Aligarh University in India, all of which have long been the centre of Unani-Tibb medical education on the Indian sub-continent. The Institute also has close links with the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), based in the Government of India.

South African Healthcare faces many challenges. For instance, the high and ever-increasing cost of effective treatment; the chronic lack of resources, particularly manpower; and the inability of allopathic medicine to provide suitable, cost-effective and efficient treatment for most of the country's population.

Tibb is perfectly placed for providing South African solutions to meet South African needs in the healthcare field because it shares common ground with both conventional medicine and African traditional medicine. It is ideally suitable as the bridge that connects the two. This was one of the driving forces that led to the creation of the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb, so opening up access to Tibb for all South Africans, and the benefits it confers:

"Tibb ye Africa" - "Medicine for Africa".

 

To participate in the promotion of social upliftment and healthcare provision locally and internationally through quality, cost-effective, intergrative medicine.

In line with its vision, the Institute is committed to:

• Education, training and development of Tibb Practitioners through tertiary institutions around the country.
• The provision of primary health care clinics and holistic wellness centres across the country, with a special focus on underprivileged areas, thereby alleviating the conditions of the most vulnerable people of our society.
• Developing an awareness of living a healthy lifestyle that is empowering and health embracing, through the Tibb Total Wellness division.
• To instil hope, peace and God-consciousness in the lives of all people through the production and distribution of various Audio and Visual material through the Zain Bhikha Studios division, which itself is aimed at alleviating the conditions of the soul.
• Assisting any worthy external Aid Organisation, Charity or NGO with the aim of uplifting the conditions of underprivileged communities in South Africa in the areas of healthcare, education, spiritual upliftment, food programmes etc.