Discourse By H. Hr. Dr. Richard FRU On The Occasion of The 5th African Traditional Medicine Day, August 31st 2007
The theme was Research and Development of Traditional Medicine in WHO African region.
Traditional Medicine (TM.) is an old age practice that has proven to be very effective in combating all forms of simple, multiple and complex health crises from time immemorial. It is greatly contributing daily in a number of ways in reducing mortality, morbidity and disability in the society.
fOne cannot deny the fact that herbal medicine and more especially those used in Africa provide the basis for conventional or orthodox drugs development in a number of ways. Traditional Medicine is the bedrock of all medicines on earth and still remains the future of all medicines.
The practice of Traditional Medicine goes beyond conventional science because it widens and extends beyond the narrow materialistic world-view, thereby raising medicine to an art of healing. The selection of remedies in TM takes into consideration the healing forces at work in nature and in human beings. This explains why in TM a particular plant has to be harvested at a particular time in a particular way for a particular treatment for it to be effective.
It is true to say that any research and findings in TM that would be limited to the approaches and findings of physical or conventional or allopathic science will only reduce TM from a practice of Intuition and intelligence to a practice of intelligence only.
TM is in fact an autonomous practice, It is a dynamic science with its own philosophy, beliefs and practices and its findings must not necessarily be approved by another science (conventional science) before it is accepted. We use our traditional methods, instruments and laboratories to test and approve our findings. I uphold our traditional meals which are our basic medicines and food do not have to be approved by conventional science before we know they are good for consumption.
WHO statistics show that more than 80% of the world’s population depends on TM for their health needs and this includes plants and their products. Even the remaining 20% who are mostly in the developed world still consume pharmaceutical products whose active elements are higher plants extracts.
Owing to the fact that TM is easily Accessible and Affordable, Culturally acceptable, socially sanctioned and easy to prepare with little or no side effects, most people in Africa and the world at large always prefer it to the exorbitantly priced Health care services Conventional Medicine and Practitioners offer, let alone the hazardous side effects of these medications. Their limitation in the African concept of diseases and beliefs as far as holistic health is concerned is also a case study.
TM practice is a supernatural science whether explicable or not, used in the identification or observation, diagnosis, healing or prevention of any physical, mental, social or spiritual imbalance and based mostly on social, cultural, and religious knowledge and experience being handed down from generation to generation either by word of mouth or writing.
Health is being defined as a state of physical well-being, mental alertness, social adjustment and spiritual development. Only TM, which is a holistic practice, handles man in all of these planes.
Because of the growing need for African Traditional Medicine, African Heads of States declared on April 2001 in Abuja, Nigeria that research into TM be made a priority amongst member states. This declaration was followed up with another in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001, designating the period 2001 to 2010 as the decade for Traditional Medicine in Africa.
Also recognizing the important contribution of TM to the reduction of mortality, morbidity and disability in the population, the African Ministers of Health adopted a plan of action for the decade of African Traditional Medicine at their African Unity (AU) sponsored meeting in Tripoli, Libya in April 2003. The AU summit of heads of states and government, which took place in Maputo, Mozambique in July 2003, endorsed the African Traditional Medicine Day – 31st of August to be commemorated each year to create a greater awareness of African Traditional Medicine.
WHO recognizes the importance of TM and has developed various guidelines and model instruments, which are available for use for institutionalizing African Traditional Medicine in the health care system of member states. In order to move the health agenda forward with TM, member states need to take speedy actions to create conducive environment for the development of quality, safe and effective Traditional Medicine. These actions include the development of appropriate National Policy, legal and Regulatory framework, and undertaking relevant research in collaboration with Traditional Health practitioners ensuring issues concerning intellectual property rights to safeguard indigenous knowledge, registration of TM, dissemination of appropriate information to the general public and consumers with regard to the proper use of TM and allocation of adequate resources both human and financial for the development of TM.
There is therefore a growing need for safe and effective Traditional Medicine therapies as an important tool to increase access to Health care particularly in poor and marginalized populations.
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