This paper examines the continuing relevance of the traditional healthcare system as a disease control mechanism in colonial Southern Cameroons. Prior to the introduction of western medicine, there existed an effective traditional medical system that constituted the basis of healthcare delivery. The coming of biomedicine in a context of European colonialism opened the way for a consistent attack on indigenous healthcare practices. In most parts of Southern Cameroons, medical facilities were developed with the intent of making preventive and curative healthcare available to the local population. Surprisingly, a cross section of the indigenous population kept their trust on traditional medicine, thus permitting it to survive colonial attacks. Throughout the colonial era, traditional doctors concocted various medicinal plants and incanted spiritual forces against such dreaded diseases like typhoid, malaria, scabies, dysentery, witchcraft and other diseases whose prevalence had a negative bearing on people’s welfare. This paper explores why and how traditional medicine remained important in the lives of Southern Cameroonians despite the promotion of Western biomedicine. It builds on primary and secondary data to demonstrate that traditional medicine helped in reducing the prevalence of diseases and encouraged socio-economic development, with a resultant imprint on the livelihood of the local population. In fact, the resultant treatment of some of these diseases was beneficial to the health of the population and facilitated in many ways the social and economic development of colonial Southern Cameroons.