MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS-NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOR POVERTYRREDUCTION

Abstract

Traditional Medicine is very culture based. Every ethnic group has had its traditional medicine based on its indigenous knowledge base. Most traditional medicine systems utilize herbs (plants) as the main source of their therapeutic substances, although minerals and animal products are also utilized. traditional knowledge has often played a role in the development of modern science. Greater efforts are needed to integrate the insights of traditional knowledge into modern science, rGlobally, there is a revival of interest in the use of medicinal plant products for the treatment of various ailments. This is mainly due to increased awareness of the limited horizon of synthetic pharmaceutical products to control major diseases, high cost of currently available synthetic medicines, reported cases of adverse side-effects of modern medicines and perceived gentleness of natural medicines. There is therefore, a strong need to develop new products from medicinal plants. A number of products from medicinal plants have emerged successful in recent years to highlight the importance of medininal plants to the development of modern medicine. About 80 percent of the people in the developing world rely on herbal remedies as a principal means of preventing and curing illnesses, and several traditional medical systems are based on the use of plants The developing countries have also now opportunities to derive economic benefit by using their natural resources of medicinal plants. It is also very important that research and development efforts should be focused on the preparation of standardized plant prodcuts from herbal plants which can fulfill the needs of poor people in their health problems.