The Sunday Mail
Standardising traditional medicine only improves its nature
TRADITIONAL medical practitioners (TMPs) are the custodians of indigenous knowledge concerning healthcare and, in particular, medicinal plants.
Sekuru Friday Chisanyu
They are the first port of call in cases of ill-health as well as in cases of spiritual, moral, psychological and social problems.
TMPs are also the local leaders of several innovations, technologies, practices and systems which are the ingenuity of communities themselves.
As a result, there is need to pursue development of policy frameworks to facilitate access to their knowledge and to ensure protection of their intellectual property at national and regional levels.
The standardisation of traditional medicine will promote connections with young generations and hygiene. The issues of measurement and hygiene have direct and indirect effects on the practice of traditional medicine in many ways with recorded and non-recorded evidence available to this effect.
There is a dramatic increase in the demand of traditional medicine because of its accessibility and availability.
When we talk of standardisation it means these are things that are tangible, measurable and sometimes can be studied scientifically or non-scientifically.
Standardisation improves the level of identification of particular traditional medicines by the consumers. This will create uniform products easy for clinical trials to be conducted by whoever administers that medicine.
This will also automatically boost the market for traditional medical practitioners across the world.
Today’s generation believes standardised medicine is safer. The system of standardising traditional medicine increases the consumers’ confidence to accept it.
It will also be easy for the Health Ministry to mainstream traditional medicines in public institutions when it is standardised.
Standardising traditional medicine mostly focuses on quality, quantity and effectiveness.
Standardised traditional medicine does not substitute other medical drugs. It only improves its nature.
It can be standardised in different types of formulae according to plants and its extracted properties. Some are highly refined and others may be concentrates.
TMPs are custodians of medicinal plant resources. They have a relationship with plants and they appreciate them.
Standardising should be considered essential, allowing different natural remedies to gain recognition as essential medicines.
Promotion of standardised extracts of traditional medicine for treatment of human beings and animals will accelerate the market of traditional medicine across Africa and the world.
This will also lead to less foreign medicines flooding the country.
Sustainable development of traditional medicine requires conservation of bio-diversity as well.
There is need to have proper technology necessary to produce standardised traditional medicine extract which does not change the way herbs are handled at all stages from growth to the final product.
TMPs and others believe that wild herbs are better when compared to those deliberately cultivated.
Pharmaceutical companies are already entering the herbal market and standardising traditional medicine, making huge profits.
On the other hand, there is lack of TMPs’ participation in medicine developmental programmes at country and regional level. This creates mistrust between traditional medical practitioners and standardising teams and policymakers.
One of the key gaps that need to be bridged is effective, long-lasting and genuine collaboration between traditional and biomedical health practitioners.
Sekuru Chisanyu is the president of Zimbabwe National Practitioners Association.
