Johannesburg, 31 August -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on African governments to accord formal recognition to traditional medicine, create an enabling environment for its practice, and integrate the time-honoured system of medicine into their national health systems. 
The call was made by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, in a message on the occasion of the first African Traditional Medicine Day to be observed Region-wide on 31 August.

Dr Samba noted that for centuries, traditional medicine played a crucial role in combating multiple and complex conditions affecting Africans, and that because of its popularity, accessibility and affordability, more than 80% of the people in the Region continued to rely on it for their health care needs

"It is (therefore) incumbent on governments in the Region to reverse the erosion of the centuries-old traditional medical knowledge and practice," he said. "This way, they will be restoring the glory of traditional medicine to its pride of place, and perpetuating the culture of its utilization. "

Dr Samba also outlined other measures that should to be taken by countries to promote the use of traditional medicine. These include investment in research and development to validate claims on the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicines; documentation of inventories of effective traditional medicine practices; the development of national formularies on traditional medicines with evidence of safety, efficacy and quality; large-scale cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants, development of local production of traditional medicines, and the protection of intellectual property rights.

The theme for observing the inaugural African Traditional Medicine Day is Traditional Medicine, Our Culture, Our Future. It was proposed by the African Regional Expert committee on Traditional Medicine, and endorsed by WHO and the African Union, the 53-member pan- African body which succeeded the Organization of African Unity in 2002. The Day has now been instituted on the WHO calendar for observance on 31 August every year in Africa.

In a related development, Dr Samba says that governments and people in the Region should promote and institute measures to nurture and manage the use of traditional medicine for two principal reasons.

First, most Africans have recourse to both traditional and modern medicine for their health care needs due to cultural acceptance and belief, and, secondly, the average ratio of traditional health practitioners to the population to medical doctors in the Region is 1:25,000 to 1:200, respectively.

Writing in the current issue of the African Health Monitor, the health magazine of the WHO Regional Office for Africa, he says: "Africans have a long tradition of using these two systems of health care, singly or in combination, thus rendering "integration" -- or the formal incorporation of traditional and modern health systems -- a reality at the grassroots level.

"The arguments in favour of traditional medicine development and utilization in Africa are, indeed, legion and compelling," he continues. "It is cheaper than modern medicines; it is widely available in practically all our communities; it is part of the medical culture of our societies, and its practitioners are highly regarded and socially-sanctioned, with well-established clientele."

Diminishing national incomes, cuts in foreign aid and the search for effective treatment for common diseases such as malaria, and opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS, such as tuberculosis, are driving renewed policy interest in traditional medicine in Africa, he says.

In several African countries, traditional medicine is currently being successfully used for the treatment of common diseases such as malaria, and for the management of HIV/AIDS and sickle cell anaemia, as well as chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

WHO estimates that large and growing numbers of people in developed countries are turning to traditional medicine, sometimes called alternative or complementary medicine, for preventive or palliative care. The global market for traditional therapies stood at more than US$ 60 billion in 2000, and is steadily growing.

For further information, please contact

Samuel T. Ajibola
Public Information and Communication Unit 
World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa 
P.O. Box 6, Brazzaville, Congo. 
E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int) 
Tel:+ 47 241 39378; Fax: + 47 241 39513; 
in Johannesburg: +27-72-722-5680
Or
Greer van Zyl, 
Health Information & Promotion 
WHO Liaison Office in South Africa
Tel: (27) 12-354-8560; Mobile: + 27- 83-647-7045