18/02/2006 18:54  - (SA)  
Traditional medicine is here to stay
    

MANTO TSHABALALA-MSIMANG

THE Democratic Alliance has described ubhejane, a traditional medicine widely used by people living with HIV and Aids, as "a fake Aids cure" that is produced by "a backyard chemist".

The DA makes this sweeping statement despite the fact that ubhejane is currently being researched at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to establish the required scientific data on the positive effects that it is reportedly having on patients with HIV and Aids.

The organisation seems to be stagnating in a colonial ideological outlook while the whole world is making significant advancement in recognising the role of traditional and complementary medicines in the management of diseases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that traditional medicine has maintained its popularity in all regions of the developing world and its use is rapidly spreading in industrialised countries.

In this regard, WHO provides some interesting data:

·  In China, traditional herbal preparations account for 30 percent to 50 percent of the total medicinal consumption;

·  In Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Zambia, the first line of treatment for 60 percent of children with high fever resulting from malaria is the use of herbal medicines at home;

·  In Europe, North America and other industrialised regions, over 50 percent of the population have used complementary or alternative medicine at least once; and

·  In San Francisco, London and South Africa, 75 percent of people living with HIV and Aids use traditional and complementary medicines.

·  The colonial and apartheid ideology did not allow for much work to be done on research and development of the medicines and regulation of the traditional health practice in the past.

The practice itself was then associated with evil spirits and backwardness. People who worked in this field were called such derogatory names as witch-doctors and wizards.

In the area of medicine control, we have identified at least 18 categories of medicines, including conventional and alternative medicines, that have to be regulated.

We have also developed a legislative framework to encourage the development of natural products for human health through the Medicines and Related Substances Act.

The Act seeks to regulate the use of complementary, alternative, African traditional and other categories of medicines in SA to ensure quality, safety and efficacy.

However, in finalising the regulations of these medicines, we are avoiding the pitfall of putting such products in the same regulatory environment as pharmaceutical drugs, whose testing and control is very different.

The government has been at the forefront of re-establishing traditional knowledge systems in the quest for improved human health.

The Department of Health and other government structures have provided support for traditional medicine research as well as the promotion of other fields of inquiry in indigenous knowledge systems.

The study of indigenous knowledge systems is not simply a scientific endeavour. It provides an opportunity to reclaim our scientific and socio-cultural heritage.

Traditional knowledge systems are indeed much older than the 150-year-old allopathic medicine, and draw on rich heritage and knowledge of the earliest civilisations of the world in Africa, Central America, China and India.

According to the WHO, traditional health practitioners are consulted by over 80 percent of our population.