BY EPHREM ANDARGACHEW
Regardless of modern technological advancements and medicinal preparations, the world today is dependent on traditional medicine. For instance, over 1300 medicinal plants are used in Europe while about 118 of the top 150 prescription drugs are used based on natural sources in the US. More than 80 percent of people in Africa are also totally dependent on traditional medicine.
Cognizant of the value of traditional medicine into account, Africa has been celebrating “African Traditional Medicine Day” which was initiated in 2003. The day helps the continent to implement WHO Regional Strategies on Promoting and Enhancing the Role of Traditional Medicine in Health Systems.
According to WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, traditional medicine has been the trusted, acceptable, affordable, and accessible source of health care for African populations for centuries. Still today, 80 percent of the continent’s population relies on traditional medicine for their basic health needs.
Hence, AU member States have met every year in discussion forums around national policies on traditional medicine, cultivation of medicinal plants, including training of traditional health practitioners, and their collaboration with their conventional counterparts.
These activities prompted more than 40 African countries to develop national traditional medicine policies by 2022, up from only eight in 2000. Thirty countries have also integrated traditional medicine into their national policies, a 100 percent improvement from the situation in 2000. Additionally, 39 countries have established regulatory frameworks for traditional medicine practitioners, compared to only one in 2000, demonstrating good governance and leadership.
Today, with 34 research institutes in 26 countries dedicated to traditional medicine research and development, it remains a promising industry, with great commercial potential if marketed appropriately internationally. Twelve of these countries reported making public fund allocations to this research and development across the past 10 years.
Ethiopia, among a few world-civilized nations, has been using traditional medicine that has been predominantly produced from plants. Due to its numerous sea level, the country has various ecosystems and a high diversity of vascular plants. It is also one of the six plant-rich countries in the continent where over 60 percent of the plants are indigenous and most of them have healing potential.
Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute Research, Dissemination and Project Implementation Director and Botanist Dr. Tesfaye Awas told The Ethiopian Herald that from the plant resources that Ethiopia has over 2000 plants have been used for natural medicinal purposes and 10 percent of the plants are endemic which are used only in Ethiopia.
Indeed, Ethiopia and other African countries have been using the plant for medicinal purposes. But it needs collaborative efforts. As stated by Dr. Matshidiso, to advance continental efforts toward equitable access to medical products and technologies, all but eight African Member States are now engaged in the large-scale cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants.
Nineteen countries have also established facilities for the local manufacture of herbal medicines, with the number of herbal medicines registered by national regulatory authorities in 14 countries increasing from just 20 in 2000 to more than 100 this year. More than 45 herbal medicines now feature on national essential medicines lists, Dr. Matshidiso explained.
Studies have also indicated that almost all plants of the Ethiopian flora are used medicinally in different parts of the country in one way or the other. Because, in Ethiopia, more than 70 percent of the people depend on traditional medicines for their healthcare, and about 95 percent of the preparations are made from plant origin.
According to Dr. Tesfaye, when modern health services fail due to various reasons not only developing but also developed countries widely are using traditional medicine. More specifically, people with dissatisfaction with modern medicines and lack of their efficacy, particularly in the cases of certain human ailments including cancer, liver diseases, herpes zoster, eczema, swelling, and hemorrhoids, are some of the reasons that traditional healing systems were preferred over conventional medicines.
Therefore, both Dr. Tesfaye and Dr. Matshidiso call on governments to strengthen collaboration between science, technology, and innovation institutions; traditional health practitioners, and the private sector, to fast-track research and development, and local manufacturing of traditional medicine-based therapeutics for the health and well-being of Africa’s people. It is also important to recognize or integrate traditional medicine into conventional one to conserve medicinal plants and upgrade the capacity of the profession.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 18 SEPTEMBER 2022
