Health
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Many Nigerians are now treating their ailments with herbal medicine because of their efficacy and the high cost of western drugs in the hospitals and pharmacies
| By Anayo Ezugwu | May 2, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT |
SOME Nigerians are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with treating their ailments with modern medicine. This is because of the high cost of medical treatment in Nigerian hospitals with western medicine. Often times the treatments do not yield the desired results. Consequently, many people are now resorting to alternative medicine or herbal remedies to treat their diseases. This has also led to a growing interest in natural or organic remedies.
Presently, some people prefer to use natural and herbal remedies to treat long-term chronic conditions that haven’t been successfully treated with western medicine. They are also using such remedies and food supplements derived from herbs especially from Eastern countries to improve their quality of life. Some of the popularly used herbal medications are mostly imported from China.
Until recently, the herbal industry in Nigeria was unregulated. This made the more organised Chinese and Indian herbal products to flood the Nigerian market. But Adeyinka Adebayo, one of Nigeria’s leading herbal practitioners, accredited by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, hopes to reverse the trend.
Adebayo told Realnews that in the last 17 years, he has been treating hypertension, diabetes, female infertility, fibroid, epilepsy, hypatitis B, liver problem, HIV, cancer, pile, arthritis, stomach ulcer, asthma, stroke, and many other ailments with local herbs and has recorded remarkable success.
“I always do research on how to make sure that it is not only the medical drugs that are going to be the only solution to the problem we are facing. I have always strived to see that the plants and leaves around can be used as the most effective alternative,” he said.
Adebayo uses natural extracts from plants for treatment of some diseases. “Agriculturalist said weed is an unwanted plant. But in my observation, weed is a plant whose function has not been discovered. It is only weed because we have not yet discovered what it can be used for. I can treat HIV. But when it has become full blown AIDS, I don’t have the capacity for it. It is very difficult for people who have this ailment to tell you that they have it. So when they are brought to me, I counsel them, assuring them that it can be cured.
“Anything in the blood, no matter how strong, it may be virus, bacteria or whatever, once the complete herbal combination is applied, it will flush it out from your blood stream. There are herbs in this Yorubaland which treat this kind of ailment. I have treated seven people with HIV, and by God’s grace they are doing fine. They have laboratory tests to confirm that the virus is no longer in their blood.”
Those he has treated speak highly of him. For instance, a Lagos-based politician and businessman, Shegun Omolewu said Adebayo’s herbal therapy has proven to be effective. “Somebody was having running stool for three months. He was admitted in hospital but he did not get relief. Once I introduced him to Adebayo, the stooling stopped after the treatment started. Another man suffered stroke. Later, it affected his eyes. The report I am getting now is that he is getting better after Adebayo started treating him.”
Omolewu said he prefers herbal medicine because it goes straight into the blood stream unlike synthesised medicine. He said his wish when he has money would be to support Adebayo with funding to enable his products compete favourably with Chinese herbal medicines.
Similarly, Iliya Bulus, a military personnel in Lagos, also confirmed the efficacy of herbal medicines in medical therapy. He said he had been suffering from high blood sugar in the last five years, managing the ailment with orthodox medicine. But that Adebayo’s herbal mixture helped normalised his sugar level which has remained stable for some time now.
Also, Augustine Ibrahim said his two-year-old child was always having stubborn cough especially in the night. Once he was introduced to Adebayo who gave him a herbal mixture, the cough stopped.
Herbal medicine, also called botanical medicine, refers to using a plant’s seeds, berries, roots, leaves or flowers for medicinal purposes. The World Health Organisation, WHO, estimated that 80 percent of people worldwide rely on it for some part of their primary health care.
Also, a survey by the University of Maryland Medical Centre found that in Germany, about 600 to 700 plant based medicines are available and are prescribed by some 70 percent of German physicians. Japan, the country with the longest life longevity (life expectancy in Japan is 84 years) has institutionalised the use of herbal medicine for diagnosis and treatment of illness.
Modern-day technology, innovations and education, have, however, made a lot of impact on the development of herbal medicine and on the practice of traditional medicine in Nigeria. The general populace, now compare the herbalist with the orthodox medicine general practitioner. Herbalists are now being encouraged to improve on the quality of their products and practice. They are also being encouraged to identify correctly the medicinal plants and other ingredients used in the preparation of herbal products. They are urged to be mindful of the sources of their raw materials and avoid adulteration, all in the bid to ensure safe medication.
Herbalists, who normally would rely on the collection of plants from the wild are being encouraged to have their own medicinal gardens and farms and grow some plants especially those facing extinction due to over-use, bush burning, drought, urban development among others. They are also encouraged to undertake toxicity studies on their products, in collaboration with scientists and recognised institutions.
As micro organisms and parasites abound in the environment, herbalists are being reminded of the need to work in clean hygienic environment and the need for good manufacturing practices to prevent contamination of raw materials and finished herbal products, to ensure stable and well-preserved products, to ensure properly-labelled herbal medicines and, probably most important, to ensure standards as well as also uniform and accurate dosing. Herbalists are also being encouraged to register their proven and efficacious standardised herbal preparations with the NAFDAC.
It is an interesting development that some states of the federation have established traditional medicine boards to monitor the activities of its herbal medicine practitioners. This development should be encouraged throughout the country.
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