The global relevance of traditional medicine and herbal plants, the Nigerian perspective.

ABSTRACT

Plants have played prominent roles not only as sources of medicaments used in the treatment of diverse diseases but have also contributed immensely to the wealth of individuals and economy of many nations. Medicinal plants offer great prospects for development of novel chemotherapeutic agents and antimcrobials which are essential for proper management of various ailments in man and animals. Most plant products are cheaper because of their abundance. They are natural and generally devoid of marked adverse effects commonly experienced with xenobiotics. There have been calls in different international fora on heads of governments to support research into herbal medicines and to incorporate traditional medicine practice into modern health care delivery systems in order to combat recurrent health challenges. Documented plants have demonstrated significant potential in the handling or treatment of some notable diseases such as malaria, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDs), sickle cell anaemia, diabetes mellitus, trypanosomosis, peptic ulcer, hepatitis, envenomation, bacterial infections, helminthoses, cancer to mention but a few.