tephrosia

Throughout the world some 70 per cent of the people rely on traditional herbal remedies to cure a wide variety of ailments ranging from minor infections to asthma, dysentery and malaria1.

In the Western world there is a growing demand for "alternative" herbal remedies and in the Third world it is now widely accepted that cheap, readily available herbal remedies should replace some of the expensive Western drugs in the market1.

In Africa the use of traditional medicine is so well accepted that many countries support some kind of scientific research programme into traditional remedies. The Organization of African Unity's (OAU) scientific and Technical Committee and the World Health Organization (WHO) are two agencies spearheading a resurgence of interest in the Third World's traditional and medicinal heritage .

The idea that pharmaceutical preparations have adequately served the human race is questionable*. Among their drawbacks were the residues in the system that become a burden to the sick body.
No chemical drugs are ever free from side effects*.

Modern medicines have also concentrated on healing symptoms rather than the living system. The modern drugs have been unecessarily expensive for Third world countries whose resources are meagre. Herbs have nutritive complementality in the form of proteins, vitamins, minerals and hormones which the plant in question may contain "thus simultenously nourishing as well as healing the living body1"

Some of the chemicals used in conventional medicine such as quinine and penicillin have been isolated from plants but wholesome original herbs containing all the known nutritive and curative principles are more effective than isolated chemicals*.

Scientific analysis of medicinal plants has led to the discovery of important modern drugs and some experts believe that plants may well hold the secrets to combat Diabetes, Cancer and AIDS 1.

In Kenya, the University of Nairobi 'Miti-shamba" Drug Research Centre has for many years been carrying out some clinical tests on the efficacy of some preparations administered by these herbalists. The results have indicated that herbal medicine is a generally powerful source of biological activity1.

In Ghana, the centre for scientific research into plant medicine is clinically assessing Desmodium adscendues for the treatment of asthma1.

It is estimated that only about 10 per cent of the earth's flowering plant species have been used in traditional medicine and only about one per cent of those have been acknowledged by scientists to have real therapeutic value. This draws attention to the urgent need of conservation of natural habitats containing untapped resources of potentially useful plant life1.