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Integrating traditional and alternative medicine in healthcare
2008-09-09 10:40:12
By Christopher Magola
Since 2003 Africa has been observing 31 August as African Traditional Medicine Day. The first African Traditional Medicine Day was commemorated in the 46 countries of the African Region of the World Health
Organisation on 31 August 2003 under the theme ``Traditional Medicine: Our Culture, Our Future.``
The decision to observe an African Traditional Medicine Day followed adoption in 2000 of a resolution on
Promoting the role of traditional medicine in health systems: A Strategy for the African Region, by the Region`s health ministers requesting the institution of the Day on the WHO calendar for observance in Member States.
The image and profile of traditional medicine received a boost in Africa when the continent\'s Heads of State meeting in Abuja in April 2001 declared that research into traditional medicine should be made a priority.
Their declaration was a follow-up to another, in Lusaka in July 2001 designating the period 2001 - 2010 as the Decade of African Traditional Medicine.
The development and adoption of the African Regional Strategy was complemented by the launch, in 2002, of the first global strategy on Traditional Medicine by WHO.
World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics indicate that 80 per cent of the rural population living in developing countries depends on traditional medicine for their healthcare needs.
In Africa 80 per cent of people have used traditional medicine at one time or another in their lives.
Health experts say traditional medicines constitute an integral part of the African heritage that cannot be ignored and that is why the role of traditional practitioners cannot be overemphasised in the African community today.
This year`s celebrations marking the 6th African Traditional Medicine Day coincided with a Conference for the Mid-term Review of the Decade on African Medicine (2001-2010) held in Yaounde, Cameroun.
Addressing participants who included officials of the African Union and African Ministers of Health speakers at the conference stressed the importance of traditional medicine in the continent.
The Chairperson of the conference of Health Ministers, (Dr Manto Nsimang-Tshabalala) said August 31st, 2008 is a memorable day as it permits health actors to review the plan of action of the Decade on African Medicine to know what has been done and see what is left for traditional medicine to be fully integrated in promoting healthcare in Africa.
This goes to buttress the theme for this year`s African Traditional Medicine Day which is ``the role of traditional health practitioners in primary health care`` he said.
Bience P. Gawanas, Commissioner of Social affairs at the African Union Commission, stressed that traditional medicine is a link between African heritage, culture and their well being. ``We can not talk about Africa without talking about our medicines``, Bience said.
She said China and India have not only practised traditional medicines but also made it an integral part of their health care system.
Thus, it is time for Africans to recognise their heritage and start talking about ``made in
Africa by Africans``. It is also time for traditional medicine to be an integral part of African health system.
The midterm Review of the Decade on African Medicine also focused on not only recognising traditional medicines but also ensuring clinical research and intellectual property rights on traditional medicines.
Back at home it is estimated that 6 million Tanzanians consult herbalists or traditional healers amid increased number of hospitals, dispensaries, and health centres.
Former Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Dr. Gabriel Upunda, made the stunning revelation when opening a four-day Annual General Meeting on Health Education and Promotion held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture(SUA) in Morogoro.
According to Dr. Upunda, 20 per cent of the Tanzanian population does not use hospital services even where they are available.
In July 1974 the Tanzanian Government established The Institute of Traditional Medicine as a research Unit and it was transformed into the Institute of Traditional Medicine under the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences by the 1991 Act of Parliament which provides for an Institute Board, which reports to the Academic Board of the College.
The Institute of Traditional Medicine is charged with the responsibility to research into traditional healing systems, in Tanzania , to identify useful practices which can be adopted and to also identify useful medicinal plant materials that can be modernised and developed into drugs.
Tanzania is estimated to have a traditional healer population ratio of 1:400, thus giving an estimated number of over 80,000 traditional healers with varying specialities.
The majority of healers are herbalists using mainly plants and a few animal and mineral products. There are also practices such as bone setting and socio-cultural aspects which contribute to the healing practices.
Tanzania has over 12,000 higher plant species and it is estimated that at least a quarter of these plants have medicinal value.
The Institute has so far documented slightly over 2,500 species with limited preliminary chemical and pharmacological work.
During celebrations to mark the African Traditional Medicine Day in Tanzania last year, the WHO Representative, Dr Mohammed Belhocine underscored the need for collaboration and sharing between researchers and traditional health practitioners.
He took cognizance of the research activities already taking place in the country especially in the area of HIV/AIDS.
He called upon researchers to use the several guidelines WHO has developed to support countries to standardize research methodologies.
During the Day whose theme was ``Research and Development of Traditional Medicines in WHO African Region``, he emphasized the importance of cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants for ensuring sustainability of raw materials.
The Institute of Traditional Medicine, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences has been focusing on current and future prospects of integrating traditional and alternative medicine in the management of diseases in Tanzania.
According to an official of the institute M.J. Moshi, traditional medicine and medicinal plants, in general, continue to be a powerful source of new drugs, now contributing about 90% of the newly discovered pharmaceuticals.
In an article published in Tanzania Journal of Health Research he says the past and the present are all full of living examples of discoveries of drugs, ranging from anti-cancer, anti-asthma, antidiabetic, anti-hypertensives and many others which owe their origin to traditional medicine.
The current era of HIV/AIDS is not short of contributions from traditional medicine, he noted, adding that the recent discovery of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), calanolide A, is a new addition from traditional medicine.
He explained that many more such discoveries are yet to come, but noted that while this potential is much acknowledged, little has been done in African countries, to utilise the plants that are already known and proven to be safe for use by patients.
A number of plants could be widely cultivated for local industrial production of medicines and herbal nutritional supplements. But there is need to ensure that what is known is made use of, for financial gain, and for improvement of the health of people.
``We need to establish the necessary expertise for development of traditional medicines and deliberate efforts should be made to encourage local industrial production of traditional/herbal medicines so that cultivation may become possible and hence contribute to poverty reduction`` said Dr. Mushi.
According to Tanzania Health Research Bulletin, 2007 May Traditional health practitioners (THPs) and their role in traditional medicine health care system are worldwide acknowledged.
Trend in the use of Traditional medicine (TRM) and Alternative or Complementary medicine (CAM) is increasing due to epidemics like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases like cancer.
Despite the wide use of TRM, genuine concern from the public and scientists/biomedical heath practitioners (BHP) on efficacy, safety and quality of TRM has been raised.
While appreciating and promoting the use of TRM, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and WHO/Afro, in response to the registered challenges has worked modalities to be adopted by Member States as a way to addressing these concerns.
Gradually, through the WHO strategy, TRM policy and legal framework has been adopted in most of the Member States in order to accommodate sustainable collaboration between THPs and the scientist/BHP.
Research protocols on how to evaluate traditional medicines for safety and efficacy for priority diseases in Africa have been formulated.
Creation of close working relationship between practitioners of both health care systems is strongly recommended so as to revamp trust among each other and help to access information and knowledge from both sides through appropriate modalities.
In Tanzania, gaps that exist between THPs and scientists/BHP in health research have been addressed through recognition of THPs among stakeholders in the country`s health sector as stipulated in the National Health Policy, the Policy and Act of TRM and CAM.
Parallel to that, several research institutions in TRM collaborating with THPs are operating various programmed research projects in TRM that has involved THPs and other stakeholders, are ongoing, aiming at complementing the two health care systems.
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