An Overview of the Traditional Medicine Situation in the African Region

"WHO estimates that about 80of the population in developing countries depends on traditional medicine for their Primary Health Care (PHC) needs. Traditional medicine and its practitioners were officially recognized by the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978 as important resources for achieving Health for All. Since then; member states and WHO governing bodies have adopted a number of resolutions and declarations on traditional medicine. Notable among these are resolution on ""Promoting the role of traditional medicine in health systems: A Strategy for the African Region"" adopted by the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Ouagadougou; Burkina Faso; in 2000 and the declaration on the Decade of African Traditional Medicine (2001-2010) by the Heads of State and government in Lusaka in 2001. This article will focus on the achievements of countries in the implementation of the priority interventions of the Regional strategy since its adoption in 2000. The article will also cover the challenges countries are facing in implementing the Regional strategy and propose the way forward."

Collaboration between traditional health practitioners and conventional health practitioners: some country experiences

Since the early 1970s; the WHO has repeatedly advocated for the recognition of Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) as Primary Healthcare (PHC) providers and for the integration of traditional medicine in national health systems. Several calls have been made on governments to take responsibility for the health of their people and to formulate national policies; regulations and standards; as part of comprehensive national health programmes to ensure appropriate; safe and effective use of traditional medicine. One of the priorities of the African Regional Strategy on Promoting the Role of TM in Health Systems is promotion of collaboration between practitioners of traditional and conventional medicine. However; despite the health benefits such collaboration could bring to the populations; decades of disregard of traditional medicine practices and products has created mistrust between the two sectors hampering all the efforts being made to promote this potentially useful partnership. This article outlines the strategies that have been adopted by the WHO to ensure the integration of traditional medicine into national health systems; examples of ongoing collaboration between research institutions and THPs based on research and management of patients; and between THPs and conventional health practitioners in HIV/ AIDS prevention and care and HIV/AIDS/STI/tuberculosis programmes; factors that have contributed to sustaining these partnerships as well as mechanisms for strengthening such collaborations

Natural products research networks in sub-Saharan Africa

Networking is a means of calibrating the quality of work that a group of people is undertaking; fostering international collaboration; pooling of available resources to provide quality training and research in various scientific disciplines and ensuring rapid worldwide dissemination of research information. Several networks involved in research and development of medicinal plants exist in the various sub-regions of the African Region. However; this paper discusses only six such networks of African researchers which share certain common characteristics. These networks aim to foster research on natural products and their sustainable use in human health; and the dissemination of information on research into natural products among others. They also aim to enhance research training capabilities of institutions through national and Regional activities; promote collaboration and research partnerships and mentoring of young researchers in the advancement of natural products research and support the principles of biodiversity conservation. However; these networks have many challenges; mostly financial. A suggestion has been made for the African Network of Drug and Diagnostics Innovation to consider the involvement of other existing networks in its structure for synergizing the efforts to create health products

Intellectual property approaches to the protection of traditional knowledge in the African Region

Traditional knowledge has played a significant role in the healthcare systems in countries of the African Region for centuries. Traditional medicines are presently used by nearly 80of the population. Owing to the global resurgence in the use of natural products and the advent of the biotechnological industry; traditional knowledge is increasingly becoming a source of modern drug development and biotechnological inventions. Despite the important role of traditional knowledge; traditional communities are unable to protect their knowledge through the existing intellectual property system owing to the failure of the knowledge to satisfy the requirements for intellectual property protection; incompatibility in most cases between the traditional knowledge concepts and intellectual property as well as the prohibitive costs involved in patent registration. Studies conducted recently and the outcomes of global debates have suggested some policy and legal approaches that can be used to effectively protect traditional knowledge; including traditional medicine. This paper discusses conceptsof traditional knowledge and provides policy and legal measures that have been developed at the international and regional levels for the protection and utilization of traditional knowledge for the benefit of the knowledge holders and society at large