NAIROBI, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) — The 2024 African Traditional Medicine Day was marked in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Saturday with a call to integrate traditional medicine into the mainstream healthcare system.
Senior policymakers, scientists, and herbalists graced the event themed “To support the provision of quality and safe traditional medicine through appropriate regulatory mechanisms.”
Pauline Duya, head of the Division of Traditional and Alternative Medicine in Kenya’s Ministry of Health, said Kenya is committed to upscaling their use in the treatment and management of killer ailments.
“As a country, we have an opportunity to showcase traditional medicine and scale up their use. We are developing policies to see how the issue of standardization and quality is addressed,” Duya said.
Marked annually on Aug. 31, the African Traditional Medicine Day seeks to recognize the pivotal role of traditional medicine in sustaining the health and welfare of the continent’s population.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 70 percent of Africa’s population relies on traditional medicine for their basic health needs, including treating both infectious and non-communicable diseases.
In Kenya, Duya said, the government and partners have prioritized collaborative research, training, and harmonized testing standards to ensure the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines on the market.
Kenya has a vast repository of medicinal plants that should be harnessed to develop a robust alternative medicine industry and tame a growing disease burden, said Mary Gikungu, director general of National Museums of Kenya.
Gikungu noted that through collaboration with indigenous and local communities, the National Museums of Kenya has been documenting, preserving, and promoting awareness of medicinal plants and their role in managing diseases.
On the sidelines of the Africa Traditional Medicine Day celebrations, Kenya launched a cancer palliative care garden at the National Museums of Kenya to showcase plants that have curative and nutritional properties for managing terminal diseases.
Peris Kariuki, a research scientist at the National Museums of Kenya, said more than 25 plant species with medicinal properties have been planted in the garden, established through funding from the National Research Fund.
Kariuki said the one-of-a-kind cancer palliative care garden in the country and the region will boost research on plant species that could aid the development of alternative drugs for treating and managing diseases.
