SYMPOSIUM ON TRADITIONAL
MEDICINE
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Kayode-Smith
The symposium was jointly organized by The Bioresources
Development and Conservation Programme and Nigerian Union
of Medical Herbalist Association on July 2-4, 1995 at
Ikenga Hotels, Nsukka. Nigeria. It was an open public
symposium and attended by representatives of all 30 branches
of the Association reflecting the 30 states that constitute
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Four professors from
the University of Nigeria, a private consultant silviculturist
and a staff of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria
presented papers at the symposium alongside four traditional
healers.
1. TOPIC: RESOLVING
THE FRICTION BETWEEN MAN & NATURE THROUGH BIORESOURCES
FOR SPIRITUAL AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
Speaker: - Ms.
Flora Ilonze.
The paper focused
on the processes used to conceptualize and manipulate
illness to achieve healing. It linked the human ecology
to therapeutics and drew attention to various health seeking
behaviours. Status of tradomedicine was reviewed and the
paper showed how psychic healing could achieve desirable
goal of alleviating suffering at reduced costs. Video
component of the presentation showed the set-up at the
Center for Psychic and Healing Administration, Enugu.
Major achievements recorded are in the treatment of strokes,
infertility and cancer.
II. TOPIC: OPTIONS
FOR THE SURVIVAL OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE.
Speaker :- Dr.
Cosmas Ozonnamalu.
Facets of traditional herbal healing was contained in
this paper and herbal medicine was shown to be complimentary
to orthodox medical practice for the achievement of Health
for all by the year 2000. The scientific community was
assured of the readiness of the herbal healers towards
forging an enduring partnership in the utilization of
medicinal plant resources. Highlight of achievements of
the herbal healers include the sourcing of potent medications
for the treatment of snake bites, diabetes mellintus,
stomach ulcer, heart diseases, cough and infertility.
In order to raise the standard of practice among traditional
medical practitioners, funding would be required for training
and research. Since cheaper treatment is available through
traditional medicine, it becomes a worthy option for the
80% of Nigerians who have access to it.
TOPIC: RELEVANCE
OF PHYTOMEDICINE IN MODERN PHARMACY PRACTICE.
Speaker:- Prof.
P.I. Akubue.
Phytomedicine was described as an aspect of health care
delivery process which emphasises rational exploitation
and utilization of plant based resources such as herbal
preparations and infusions made from bark of tree stem,
leaves, and roots. Paper pointed out that phytomedicine
is essential within the traditional healing process since
basic plant materials are abundant in our environment.
70% of drugs available for use in disease treatments are
primary plant extracts and from which synthetic derivatives
were developed. Knowledge to herbalists in terms of potency
is useful in the development of modern pharmacy practice.
Plant based extraction with proven efficacy have been
with success to formulate potent drugs in Germany. Generally,
extracts derived from plants tend to have less side effect
and are non-addictive in most cases.
Examples of plants
utilized for this purpose are Passion Fruit and Kavakava
plant got from South Pacific which is used for treating
anxiety, restlessness and the relaxation of muscles. A
logical way forward in drug development is to shorten
the protocols involved. As long as the toxicological evaluation
is positive, a preparation could be moved to market place.
Recommended strategy for rapid development of phytomedicine
would include:
- a. Mission-oriented and well
funded applied research in various national laboratories
involved in pharmacy.
b. Drug development should be executed in such away
that the potency of the preparation is retained. Newly
developed local drugs do not have to look imported
types.
c. Systematic identification of plants commonly used
for herbal healing should be a continuous process
and schools of Pharmacy must insist on commercializing
formulations derived from local raw materials.
d. Local entrepreneurs need to diversify their investment
to cover drug manufacture so that available resources
are fully exploited for foreign exchange earning.
IV. TOPIC: ETHNOMEDICAL
RESEARCH ECONOMIC POSSIBILITIES.
Speaker :- Dr.
J. C. Okafor
Ethnomedicine is an
integral part of rural life where it is an available option
of health care delivery. In this process, it constitutes
an economic process. Many illnesses which defy orthodox
treatment are easily resolved when ethnomedicine is applied.
Table containing several key illnesses and remedies based
on ethnomedicinal resources was given. This was a testimony
that common homestead and forest plant resources are accessible
for the treatment of various illnesses. Paper called for
resource and information sharing between rural people
and scientists for optimum utilization of the available
materials. Accurate identification of the most useful
plants is needed and proper harvesting methods should
be used to eliminate destructive exploitation. In particular,
herbal plant merchants should be given proper orientation
on how to conserve herbal plants.
Recommendations for the sustain ability of ethnomedical
research and development include:
- a. The need to recognize that
plant resources must be conserved through aggressive
cultivation. Action plan on how to document the available
medicinal plants which serve the traditional healers
and the formation of organized group of rural people
for the protection of bioresources.
b. Rapid integration of traditional medical practice
into primary health care process. Herbal; medicine
should be assisted to move to the market place.
V. TOPIC: ALTERNATE
APPROACHES TO DIABETES MANAGEMENT.
Speaker:- Dr. E.O.
Olapade.
Development of research
into ethnomedicine is driven by the search for rational
treatment modules for emerging diseases. This search has
covered several plant species found to be useful to local
and rural dwellers from health delivery standpoint. A
specialist clinic was set up in Ibadan to combine trado-medicine
and the orthodox treatment approach for illnesses like
hypertension, diabetes, pile and hemorrhoids. Considerable
success has been recorded in the application of local
formulation derived from available herbal plants. Food
plant species normally seen as weeds are useful for this
purpose. For example, Tridax could be utilized for the
treatment of sores; vegetables like pepper, tomatoes,
melon, garlic, ginger and condiments like locust beans
all contain compounds with significant potency for the
treatment of diseases. Style of fresh maize prior to seed
formation could be used to treat diabetes while leaves
of Piper guinense is potent in kidney illness alleviation.
Palm wine has various uses such as treatment for measles
and the improvement of vision. The medicinal properties
of other common foods and plants should be exploited for
the achievement of health for all by the year 2000. Diabetes
was described as a chronic health disorder and a state
of abnormal glucose metabolism. It comes in two main categories
namely the insulin dependent type (IDS) and non-insulin
dependent type (NIDDM). Both are characterized by symptoms
of impaired vision, fatigue, dehydration and unusual thirst
as well as frequent urination. High blood glucose level
clearly exposes abnormality in insulin activity. The treatment
of this disease started in Egypt around 14 B.C with insulin
extracted from animal sources. By 1991, the World Health
Organization called for more research into alternative
insulin administration especially through herbal means.
Ten plant sources of medication are available but five
were presented. Apart from herbal medicine, diet may be
another important factor in diabetes mellitus management
where carbohydrate as calorie source is de-emphasized.
Extracts of mistletoe, onion, garlic, and pawpaw are useful
in the treatment of diabetes. The pawpaw plant is very
useful for many food and health purposes. The latex of
the plant produces tenderizer in meat processing, while
extracts from the leaf could alleviate stroke and hypertension.
Possibility exists also that hepatitis could be treated
with pawpaw leaf extract. The process of breaking through
in D.mellitus management would depend on:
- a. Full documentation of available
potent plant preparation in use by several herbal
hospitals.
- b. Improvement in diagnosis
and use of standard instrumentation for testing samples
in the traditional medical hospitals.
- c. Standardization of emerging
herbal formulations and new plant derived medications.
Good manufacturing practice should be put in place
during processing.
- d. Improvement in sanitation
and hygienic status of preparation rooms and laboratories.
- e. Verification of existing
drug ingredients and continuous search for new ones.
- f. Conservation of genetic
resources towards diabetes drug research and development.
TOPIC: RATIONAL DRUG
DESIGN
Speaker:- Dr. Chude.
An overview of linkages
between ethnomedical research and overall drug discovery
objective was presented. The first rationally designed
drug is Diaprim where the concept of molecular receptors
and classical modeling was applied. Receptors exist in
forms like G-proteins or gaba-receptors and their make-up
has been studied through sequencing techniques. This helps
to expose the binding sites for the understanding of drug
actions. An emerging area in drug development is food
drug formulation which holds great promise in alleviating
cholesterol linked health problems. Food drug development
is fast because it presents minimal obstacles encountered
in conventional drug design. Instrumentation for receptor
analysis cover radioreceptor and radio-immuno assay protocols.
Technological development in this type of research include
the application of minotypes, plasmid resonance and immobilized
polymer system. Lasers are now commonly applied to enhance
analytical procedures, this is essentially for simplifying
the overall process. Capillary electrophoresis is an effective
detection procedure. Best drugs are the organic types
which are conveniently made in cell free systems.
TOPIC: STATUS OF
TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AND ISSUES OF OFFICIAL INTEGRATION.
Speaker:- Dr. Obi
Diribe.
The Nigerian traditional
herbal doctors fall into the following categories - herbalists,
witch doctors, bone setters, faith healers, birth attendants
and the general practitioners. Their network cover the
entire country and they exist side by side with the orthodox
medical doctors. World Health Organization guidelines
stipulates that the tradomedical practice should become
a component of the primary health care. General observation
is that role of the native doctors continue to change
since their mode of operation has not been standardized.
Constraints identified as militating against high
standard of performance among the herbalists are:
- a. Inadequate access to information
and
methods of disease diagnosis.
b. Wide variation in the management of diseases.
c. Lack of clarity on dosage for medication
and herbal preparation.
d. Toxicology and product safety issues.
DISCUSSION
Information on medicinal
plants as well as basic knowledge of health management
should be freely exchanged between the rural and urban
based practitioners. Orthodox medicine and trado-medicine
should exist side by side and the later should not be
overrun or sucked up by the biomedics. Each should be
respected based on individual merits. Traditional medicine
should be helped to attain high standard which would command
desired respect in health delivery system. The issue of
sharing information and know ledge was identified as crucial to the sustain
ability and capacity building in emerging trado-medicine.
The traditional medicine practitioners should work very
hard to develop credibility and attract clientele. They
really do not need to be integrated since they occupy
a unique niche in the health delivery scheme. The traditional
medicine system should define its needs particularly the
pharmaceuticals and standardize the performance. Research
is also required in the area of food drugs especially
the identification of nutraceuticals in available plant
resources. In the meantime, aggressive replacement of
plants being destroyed through improper forest exploitation
should be embarked upon for sustainability. Various shades
of opinion expressed clearly showed that the symposium
met its objectives of creating a forum for a joint participation
and interaction of health delivery partners. Traditional
medicine was discussed and its relevance is no more a
question but strategies for its improvement must be developed
as symposium communique or statement on action plan. The
short documentation should try to clearly identify ideas
on how the traditional knowledge of our people could be
used as instrument of national development.
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