Editorial: Institutionalization of African Traditional Medicine in Health Care Systems in Africa

Abstract

In recent times, the phrase " traditional medicine" has become a catchword among the peoples in all countries in Africa. This has been due partly because the use of herbal remedies has gained popularity worldwide and the exploitation of these remedies has become a multimillion industry. The term "African traditional medicine" is not synonymous with "Alternative and complimentary medicine" which is a misnomer which is sometimes used. African traditional medicine is the African indigenous system of health care and therefore cannot be an alternative. In Africa, there is an important reason why African traditional medicine has become increasingly popular. The high cost of allopathic medical health care and the expensive pharmaceutical products have become unavailable to a majority of people. Naturally, the many centuries-old alternative sources of health care have become handy, often in desperate situations. In fact, the frequently quoted statement that 85 per cent of the people in Africa use traditional medicine, is an understatement because this figure is much higher and continues to increase. At the Alma Atta Declaration of 1978, it was resolved that traditional medicine had to be incorporated in the health care systems in developing countries if the objective of the "Health for All by the Year 2000" was to be realized. Notwithstanding this strategy, African countries did not come near the objective at the end of the 20th century. Therefore, the Member States of the WHO African Region adopted a resolution in 2000 called "Promoting the role of traditional medicine in health care systems: A strategy for the African Region". This strategy provides for the institutionalization of traditional medicine in health care systems of the member states of the WHO African Region. Furthermore, the OAU (African Union) Heads of State and Government declared the period 2000 - 2010 as the African Decade on African Traditional Medicine. In addition, the Director General of the World Health Organization also declared 31st August every year as African Traditional Medicine Day. All these declarations signify the importance and the approval by Governments and international institutions of the need to institutionalize African traditional medicine in health care. Therefore the mechanisms for institutionalization have to be developed to make these resolutions a reality. In view of the complexity and heterogeneity of African traditional medicine, a system of incorporation in the current health care systems has to be developed. During the last four years the WHO Regional Director for Africa and his Secretariat took up the challenge and have developed model guidelines that the Member States can adapt or adopt as may be appropriate in the respective Member States. Some of the relevant guidelines include the following: 1. Guidelines for the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a National Traditional Medicine Policy 2. Model legal framework for the practice of traditional medicine: The Traditional Health Practitioners Bill; 3. Model Codes of Ethics for Traditional Health Practitioners 4. A Regional framework for the registration of traditional medicines in the WHO African Region; 5. A regulatory framework for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and indigenous knowledge of traditional medicines in the WHO African Region. These guidelines and others provide a basis for the incorporation of African traditional medicine in a manner that would best suit a particular country. The WHO Regional Director for Africa also appointed a Regional Expert Committee on Traditional Medicine which assists in the development of these guidelines. It is important to emphasize that as more and more people use this traditional health care facility, there is an urgent need for the appropriate systems of quality control in the practice as well as in the production and use of the medicines. Such systems will protect the public and also ensure that the best practices and the most useful medicines are made available in the most affordable manner. Every country in the African region would be expected to adopt a method of incorporation that would be suitable: integrative, inclusive, or tolerant, as the case may be. It is an undeniable fact that we cannot afford to sit on the fence. All the stakeholders stand to gain a great deal in the development and promotion of African traditional medicine. In particular, all the practitioners in the present allopathic health care system will gain professionally as well as economically as they will have access to an additional culture-friendly system with which to provide services to the people. All the stakeholders must join hands in the effort to institutionalize the appropriate African traditional medicine in the health care systems in order to provide the health services that are urgently needed in the communities.