By Sifelani Tsiko
Harare, Zimbabwe  April 5 2007

THE recent visit by Chinese traditional medicine experts to the country highlights the need to strengthen collaboration between African traditional medicine practitioners and their counterparts in Asia to promote research and use of traditional medicines in addressing some of the crucial health challenges facing most developing countries today.

A delegation led by Mr Xiao Caisongo from China's Changsha Taibao Pharmaceutical Group met the Zimbabwe Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa last week to discuss ways of strengthening collaboration in traditional medicine research.

The Chinese company is at the forefront of promoting research and use of traditional Chinese medicines in this giant Asian country which serves as an example to most African countries going that route."We need to strengthen our clinical research in traditional medicines. China has been doing this for a long time and we will be able to learn from them," Dr Parirenyatwa said."Zimbabwe is very keen to advance its traditional medicine agenda. We are very keen to partner with China in that respect."

The World Health Organisation says a global health crisis of new and re-emerging diseases which are spiraling out of control with the added burden of poverty and armed conflicts threatens to cripple entire communities and countries.

Health experts say to tackle this crisis, it is important that the biomedical community work to access and harness as many resources and partners as possible.

And they say traditional medicine and healers and the potential contributions they can make at many levels of health care delivery still remains a critical resource in answering some of the global health challenges facing most countries in Africa.

It is pleasing that despite numerous problems, Zimbabwe and most African countries are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of traditional medicine – the practice and body of medicinal knowledge that existed before the arrival of modern conventional medicine which were used to promote, maintain and restore health and well-being.

Just like people in China and most other parts of the world, Africans developed unique indigenous healing traditions adapted and defined by their culture, beliefs and environment, which satisfied the health needs of communities over centuries.

Despite the over-riding influence of western conventional medicines and approaches, African health experts say only 10 to 30 percent of worldwide health care is delivered by conventional biomedically-oriented practitioners.

They say in poor, rural and marginalised populations, the number of traditional practitioners often exceeds Western-trained doctors. In Africa, south of the Sahara, the ratio of traditional healers to the population is about 1:500 in contrast to the doctor to population ratio of 1:40 000 on average.In Zambia, the Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia has a 40 000 membership made up of herbalists, spiritualists, diviners and traditional birth attendants.

The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association has a membership of about 55 000 traditional healers who have access to more than 500 different types of medicinal plants.

In South Africa, it is estimated that there are 300 000 traditional practitioners in the industry which has an annual turnover of more than 250 million rands.

Traditional African medicine has more followers than Western medicine in Africa and increasingly in North America and Europe there is a booming market for indigenous African medicines with Western pharmaceutical giants tapping into the continent's vast traditional medicine body.

And with proper planning, training, research and collaboration with countries such as China, Zimbabwe's traditional medical systems can be developed to boost the economy as well as tap into the booming herbal industry worldwide."A significant proportion of people depend on traditional medicine," said Mr Andrew Mushita, the director of Community Technology Development Trust. "The challenge is how do we systematically integrate traditional medicine with the formal health care system."

"The challenge is how to repackage this and promote it for easy accessibility by the majority of people," said Mushita whose organisation has documented indigenous foods, medicines and knowledge systems in Zimbabwe.

In Africa, for years, herbs from trees and shrubs, roots, leaves, flowers and bark have been used to cure a range of ailments through he linkage of spirituality and other traditional African religion practices.

Researchers say at least 75 percent of all Western medicines and traditional medicines are plant based while 25 percent use synthetic materials.

Indigenous knowledge has been used extensively for medicinal plants for human and animal health care, selection and breeding of livestock to suit the local environment and the development of local seed varieties.

Africa still faces problems linked to the negative image of traditional medicine.
These perceptions are still raw and need transformation in order to bring on board the healing practices not as an appendage to Western medical systems but as a competitive and complementary force on the continent's health delivery systems.

"The popular image of the African medicine man is that of the fabled witch doctor, with his exotic paraphernalia of feathers, cowries and animal skin, muttering meaningless incantations and dispensing worthless potions to his ignorant clients," writes Maurice Iwu in a Handbook of Traditional African Medicine.

"Even the herbs they dispense are considered harmful and when they are found to be efficacious, the detractors of traditional medicine are quick to dismiss them as chance discoveries.

"The incantations and the rhythm of the drums are said to weird sounds and part of the mumbo-jumbo designed to hoodwink the superstitious savages who are under their spell.

"The reality of African medicine is far more complex than is generally understood. Only a few appreciate the real capabilities of African medicine," Iwu argues.

In Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, there are numerous examples of medicines that 
are still effective in curing diseases today.
The baobab tree has served many purposes including application of its leaves as a soothing cream and bark for treatment of malaria and other diseases in most African communities.

Hoodia, an appetite suppressant found in the entire southern African region was developed using the traditional knowledge of the San who used effectively to survive the harsh conditions in the Kalahari deserts.

In Ghana, a plant known as the 'climbing day flower' and the African tulip tree, used for centuries by the Asante people, has proven useful in healing wounds due antioxidant and anti-microbial actions, according to a recent study published in the August issue of Phytotherapy Research 2006.

Scientists concluded that the use of the plants in wound healing was proving to be effective showing that with more investment in research in traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge systems, African countries can find some solutions into some of their pressing problems.

In Zimbabwe, the Long-pod cassia (muvheneka/umdlawizo in the local Shona and Ndebele language) roots, leaves and fruits are used in the treatment of constipation, backache, diarrhoea and gonorrhoea and for birth control.

The Sausage tree (mumvee/umvebe) powdered fruits are used in the treatment of ulcers and sores while the bark and root are sued in the treatment of pneumonia. There are numerous other undocumented uses of plants.

There is need to establish a centre of traditional medicine research and development to enable Zimbabwe to utilise its genetic resources effectively.

Zimbabwe and most other African countries can easily follow India which has more than 2 000 hospitals with more than 45 000 beds that offering treatment using traditional medicines.

India has more than 22 000 dispensaries in traditional medicine making the drugs more accessible to the majority of the people.

"It is pertinent to state that the African medical system does not fall into the sphere of what is known as 'alternative medicine' but it is rather a complementary but different medical system that uses medicine in a more-or-less conventional manner for the treatment of diseases," says Iwu.

"It employs in a fundamental sense, the same basic methods as Western medicine with additional contributions from the spiritual dimension which gives the healing depth and meaning within the African cosmology and experience.

"It cannot be reduced to simple herbalism," he argues.
With research and collaboration and partnerships with Chinese traditional medicine experts, African traditional medicine can provide a unique opportunity in the delivery of safe, equitable and culturally-appropriate health care to individuals and communities across the world.

It can also enhance the use affordable and sustainable solutions and resources in tackling some of the health challenges facing the continent.

But what remains pressing is the need to raise awareness and respect for African traditional medicine systems and the worldviews in which they are grounded.

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