The Nigerian Council of Physicians of Natural Medicine (NCPNM) has called for stronger advocacy and awareness on natural and herbal medicine in the country.
Prof Bade Adewale, Vice-President of NCPNM, made the call on Tuesday in Lagos at a news conference to celebrate African Traditional Medicine Day organised jointly with Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency.
The theme for this year’s African Traditional Medicine Day is “Local Manufacturing of African Traditional Medicine Products in the African Region”.
According to him, more awareness on herbal and natural medicine will make the practice to be well recognised, respected and accepted by Nigerians.
“Nigeria’s herbal or natural medicines should be more publicised and well recognised in the society than other drugs coming from other countries.
“This year’s theme urges utilisation of medicinal plants for finished products; an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies, private investors and others to create a value chain.
“It is also an opportunity for the companies to qualify for agricultural business low interest rates from Bank of Industry manufacturing loans,”Adewale said.
He said that traditional African medicine was a holistic discipline involving the use of indigenous herbalism combined with aspects of African spirituality.
“About 80 per cent of Africa’s population relies on traditional medicine for their basic health needs.
“In some cases traditional medicine is the only healthcare service available, accessible and affordable to many people on the continent.
“In this case, the significant contribution of traditional medicine as a major provider of healthcare services in Africa cannot be underestimated.
“Nigeria has joined the rest of Africa to celebrate the African Traditional Medicine Day. The African region are blessed with countless plant species, others yet to be discovered,” Adewale said.
He said that over 50,000 species of plants were in sub-Saharan Africa, of which it is believed 25 per cent have been in use for centuries for treatment and disease prevention.
“Nigeria has over 8,000 species with potential benefits in ethno-medicine and ethno-pharmacy.
“However, Europeans introduced conventional practice and pharmaceutical drugs which gradually displaced age-old traditional medicine,” Adewale said.
Dr Salihu Timothy, Head of Research Policy and Innovation Planning, Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, also said that people should learn to cultivate the use of natural medicine and plant.
Timothy said that cultivation of more natural and herbal medicinal plants were very important because it has a lot benefits.
“People should get more involved in natural medicine because it is a great and lucrative business for both farmers and manufacturers.
“During production people hardly meet their need that is why we teach local farmers how to produce more plants.
“We need to cultivate more medicinal plants so we can supply to the pharmaceutical companies producing herbal products and drugs,” he said.
Timothy said that herbal products had numerous active compounds with lots of health benefits while synthetic products most times have one active compound.
“We have been training and teaching herbal practitioners and manufacturers so they can produce safe and good herbal products in the country.
“We make sure they produce standard herbal products and meet NAFDAC standard before they start distribution within and outside the country.
“Government also is doing a lot by establishing the agency legally through signing of acts and passing some bills on natural medicines,” he said.
Mrs Adenine Onanuga, Assistant Director, Traditional Medicine Board, Lagos State Ministry of Health, urged people not to patronise unregistered herb sellers in the markets.
Onanuga said that most herb hawkers do not know what the herbal content of what they are selling is and as such should not be patronised.
“We train the herb sellers and traditional practitioners so they can know the proper health benefits of their products before selling out to the people.
“People should ensure that any purchased herbal products should be registered with NAFDAC,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that African Traditional Medicine Day was first commemorated on Aug. 31, 2000 on when African Ministers of Health adopted the relevant resolution at the 50th session of the World Health Organisation.
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