With a unique plant heritage estimated at over 30 000 high quality plant species, of which 3 000 are used in traditional medicine, South Africa is in a favourable position to explore the traditional uses of plants to the full. The Cape alone has nearly 9 000 species and is said to have the most diverse temperate flora on earth.
Africa's indigenous people have taken advantage of this rich biodiversity and have been using herbs medicinally for thousands of years. It is estimated that approximately 80% of South Africans use traditional medicines for primary health care. However, it is only in recent years that that some of these herbs have been packaged and sold in retail outlets, thereby reaching a wider market.
Research is being conducted into many African plants by organisations like Afriplex and universities around the world. Trade organisations like Phytotrade (the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association) are helping to expand the commercial market for these herbs. Apart from research, Afriplex cultivates herbs using innovative technology to process raw plant material into extracts, essential oils, tinctures and other derivatives which it sells and exports to the pharmaceutical, food, beverage and cosmetic markets. All these products are HACCP accredited and all plant material used in its production facility is cultivated using Good Agricultural Practices.
While much research is being done by various South African universities, nothing has been officially documented by the government. A major process to get this started was launched in 2005 when the Association for African Medicinal Plants (AAMPS) was launched in Centurion. The meeting was hosted by the Phytomedicine Programme of the University of Pretoria with financial support from the ACP-EU Centre for Development of Enterprise and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation. A declaration was signed pledging Africa-wide support for the preparation of African quality assurance standards and to develop an African Herbal Pharmacopoeia comprising 53 native medicinal plant species. Several of these are recognised medicines in much of Africa but are not sold officially within their native regions.
Challenging the stereotypes
Prof James E. Simon, PhD director of the New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Programme at Rutgers University, said AAMPS could also help challenge stereotypes of herbal products. A common perception of herbal products is that they lack quality standards and are not sustainably harvested.
‘Africa is one of those underdeveloped and underappreciated regions with phenomenal potential and a virtual treasure of genetic diversity relative to medicinal plants,' said Simon. ‘Herbal products already contribute millions of dollars to the international herbal industry.' According to Simon, the herb industry of the African continent is poised to play a more significant role in the global arena than it does at present.
Kodzo Gbewonyo, ScD, president of BioResources International Inc in Somerset, NJ, stressed that the progression of the African herbal industry is especially important to the people of Africa. ‘The costs of Western medicines are way beyond the reach of most Africans,' he said. Furthermore, the poor ratio of trained doctors to patients in Africa, as well as the preference of many Africans for natural medicines over conventional western pharmaceutical treatments, emphasises the necessity of quality herbal alternatives on the continent. ‘About 70-80% of Africans rely on traditional healers as their first caregivers,' explained Gbewonyo
Denzil Phillips,founder and director of Denzil Phillips International Ltd, and a co-organiser of the South African AAMPS meetings, said AAMPS is particularly interested in raising awareness of the organisation and garnering financial support for its mission. ‘We want everyone to know what we're doing and to criticise it and to contribute,' commented Phillips. He added that the pharmacopoeia that AAMPS is developing will be the first to highlight native plants from across Africa.
AAMPS - which has its office registered in Mauritius - offers membership to those committed to the cause of African quality standards and the development of an African Herbal Pharmacopoeia.
More government involvement required
While AAMPS has motivated the development of an African pharmacopoeia, this is a privately funded initiative. Prof Ben-Erik van Wyk of the University of Johannesburg stresses that there is still a need for government to be involved in establishing a South African pharmacopoeia. Adding to the complexity of making African medicinal herbs widely available is skepticism about the efficacy of African traditional medicines, fear of witchcraft and political and commercial interests.
‘Once South Africa has its own pharmacopoeia, each herb will have its physical and chemical characteristics listed and its safety will have been thoroughly tested,' explains van Wyk. ‘This will give formal recognition to a plant's uses and efficacy and enable it to be promoted globally.'
Another issue relating to African herbal medicines revolves around the question of whether they can be grown sustainably and, if so, they can provide a source of jobs and income for South Africans. One of Afriplex's priorities is to promote the conservation and propagation of indigenous plant species for the benefit of Africa and its people. To this end it formed the Business Linkage Challenge Fund (BLCF) Fynbos project in 2003 with the British government's Department for International Development on a 50/50 basis. Afriplex play the role of lead organisation - handling financial management, management of all post-harvest activities, processing of plant material into marketable products and marketing the products locally and internationally. The beneficiaries of the project are the community farmers - all of whom are previously disenfranchised people.
Afriplex has also established sound relationships with its raw material suppliers through the formulation of alliances and partnerships. It has joined forces with PhytoTrade Africa to provide the beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and nutraceutical industries with a range of unique African plant extracts. Working exclusively with products derived from indigenous plant resources, PhytoTrade Africa is able to develop new products and reliable ethical supply chains.
Municipalities are supporting initiatives
As part of the South African government's commitment to African Traditional Medicine in the health care delivery system and its goal to further sustain African heritage, some municipalities are funding and organising the cultivation of plants on a sustainable development basis, says HPA Executive Council member, Maria Ascensao. ‘This initiative provides social and economic benefits to the families and communities who are often the custodians of the properties of our traditional African medicine. It is also very encouraging and will go a long way towards ensuring conservation of plant biodiversity and protection of indigenous knowledge for the benefit of all South Africans. I believe there is a great future for our home-grown medicinal plants.'