Issued by: National Department of Health
19 September 2005
Governments in many parts of the world have made great strides in coordinating the use of traditional medicine to treat various diseases.
However, the same cannot be said about many African countries, which are yet to come up with legal framework to promote the recognition of traditional medicine and traditional medicine practices. Further, work still needs to be done to establish the efficacy, safety and quality of traditional medicines.
This was revealed during the SADC Ministerial Sub-Committee Meeting on Traditional Medicine in Harare, Zimbabwe on Friday, 16 September 2005.
Ministers of Health attended the meeting from the SADC Region to develop a policy framework for the coordination of traditional medicine.
To achieve this objective, the Ministers focused on the (1) legal framework, (2) integration, (3) research, (4) financial and human resources, and (5) capacity building.
Minister of Health Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was unable to attend because after her sister Mrs Laura Ntombela (64) died last week.
SA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mlungisi Makalima represented the Minister.
MRC director of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Dr Gilbert Matsabisa, MRA Director of Medicines Evaluation and Research, Frank Hlangwane also attended the meeting as part of the SA Delegation.
The Ministers shared experiences on integration of traditional medicine into the national health system to inform the plan of action.
South Africa and the other countries gained a lot from the mutual sharing and interaction.
It was noted that it would be difficult to implement any policy on traditional medicine because of legislation on Witchcraft Suppression, which still existed in some countries.
Traditional medicines were used to heal and allegedly also to bewitch people. For this reason, it would be important to try and distinguish between the two when crafting policy.
About 70 percent of the SADC population use traditional medicines to treat ailments mainly because of affordability, accessibility and effectiveness, but the traditional medicines have not been recognised as a formal health system.
The Ministers noted that there was a need, therefore, to further explore strategies to elevate traditional medicine to a higher level of recognition through creation of directorates of Traditional Medicine.
"This lack of recognition has delayed the development and the implementation of regional and international recommendations on traditional medicine," the Ministers said.
In South Africa, at least 70% of all South Africans consult one of the more than 200 000 traditional health practitioners in the country, as opposed to 30 000 medical practitioners, to meet their primary health care needs.
The SA Minister of Health, Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, recognises the potential role of and benefits of available remedies of traditional medicine in the national health system.
She recognises the importance of formulating national policy on traditional medicine to promote efficacy, safety and quality, and supports the need to protect the indigenous knowledge of African traditional medicine (Intellectual Property Rights).
While regulation of traditional medicine remains a challenge in SA, legislative efforts have been made to provide for a statutory council for traditional health practitioners.
The newly passed Traditional Health Practitioners Act provides for the establishment of Traditional Health Practitioners Council. The Council will promote the practice of Traditional Medicine Practice, and foster research into and development of the knowledge of such practices.
The Act also empowers the Minister of Health to make regulations relating to traditional medicine in order to protect the public, and to ensure the safe and rational use, administration and storage of traditional medicines.
SA Ambassador Mr Mlungisi Makalima, said during the meeting: "There is a need to also develop research protocols on the existing African traditional medicine as they might hold answers to some of the life-threatening conditions prevalent in the region."
Department of Health's SADC desk coordinator Mrs Lebo Lebese said that due to the serious danger posed by HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria and the escalating cost of medicines, a pharmaceutical unit at the SADC Secretariat had also been established to conduct research into the use of traditional medicine, among others things.
The SADC Health Ministers at the end of the meeting committed themselves to do the following: to formulate policy to recognise, regulate and control traditional medicine by 2007, to assess the needs and status of traditional medicine in the SADC region by 2006:
Contact:
National Department of Health
Media Liaison Officer, Charity Bhengu 083 679 7424