Speaking at a World Health Organisation (WHO) regional consultative meeting in Harare last week, acting director of traditional medicine in the Ministry of Health, Dr Onias Ndoro, urged government to support traditional medicines describing them as the solution to the health needs of the majority in the country.
“Zimbabwe is one of the pioneer African countries to recognise and legalise the use of herbal medicines but we are lagging behind in the authorisation of herbal products,” said Ndoro. “The prescription of traditional medicines lies with the traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) and there is need to change that and do more research and establish its effectiveness.”
The three-day meeting drew participants from Tanzania, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Mali, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Ndoro’s comments come at a time when Zimbabwe is awash with herbal medicines originating from China and India. The acting director said an integrated and collaborative approach between TMPs and conventional medicine practitioners (CMPs) was the key to demystifying negative beliefs associated with the use of herbal medicines.
“The use of traditional medicines is a solution to some of our health problems because most people residing in the rural areas do not have access to hospitals and modern medicines. The issue of access and affordability comes at the fore,” said Ndoro. “There is need to look at these medicines as a health system and compliment its proper use.”
He said TMPs should come up with activities and objectives aligned to the health ministry’s goals if they are to be recognised by the relevant government ministries.
The Zimbabwe national Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha) led by Dr Gordon Chavunduka has for years been pushing government to enact legislation that recognises the official use of traditional medicines in the health institutions in the country.
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Chavhunduka could not be reached for comment last week as he was said to be sick. But a member of Zinatha blamed government bureaucratic procedures for the delay in recognising local herbal medicine.
“This is why you find traditional practitioners operating backstreet pharmacies in the city,” he said. “We need laws the support the marketing and use of our herbal medicines.”
Last week’s meeting was held against the backdrop of the WHO regional committee for Africa held in 2000 under the theme ‘Promoting the role of Traditional Medicine in the Health Systems: A strategy for the African Region.’
The committee came up with resolutions that stipulate that African countries should make inventories of effective traditional practices and ascertain and develop evidence on the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicines.
According to the WHO, TMPs play a key role in covering the health needs of African communities, but their work and profession are not sufficiently known, documented or recognized the world over.
Their interventions are not captured in health statistics at country and regional levels. The absence of official recognition exposes them to “charlatans and deceptive advertising”, a situation which could ultimately become a source of discouragement.
Recent studies have shown that traditional medicine is however the first source of health care for about 80% of the population in developing countries. Several African countries have implemented some aspects of the regional strategy but are still hindered by weak regulatory mechanisms which have resulted in malpractices in traditional practices and unfavorable policy, economic and regulatory environments for local production of traditional medicines.
