By Janet Ogundepo
Medical experts have called for the adoption and integration of natural and herbal products into the treatment and management of health conditions to reduce the high disease burden in the country.
The experts, however, said it was important for patients to consult their physicians before consuming natural herbs.
The experts spoke at the just concluded 33rd Annual General Meeting and 17th Scientific Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Pharmacognosy, held at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, Ondo State, Foluke Aladelola, stated that consulting with professionals before introducing natural herbs into one’s diet was crucial.
Aladelola, a pharmacist, said, “The benefits of natural products in human health and well-being are profound and stable.
“Consulting with a healthcare professional before introducing new natural products into one’s health regimen is advisable.
“Herbs are not just natural products, they contain active components and when you are prescribed drugs in the hospitals and you combine them with natural products without getting the right counselling can lead to complications.
The PS, who was the keynote speaker of the conference, further highlighted the benefits of natural greens and fruits.
“In the last two decades, the World Health Organisation has supported clinical trials of natural products leading to marketing and authorisation from African countries. Some of these natural products are commonly used for the treatment of high blood pressure and sugar, malaria and other infections.
“ So having the backing of the world today, for inclusion of the natural product in the care of humans means the ball is now in our court to do the needful accurately, reliably and scientifically,” she stated.
She, however, decried the malpractices, lack of regulation, standardisation and the proliferation of fake and unhygienic practices of traditional health practitioners, stating that this posed a challenge to integrating natural products.
Aladelola further noted that to harness the state’s abundant natural medicinal plants, a natural herbal laboratory had been established to produce herbal medicines following scientific and clinically acceptable standards.
She however noted that efforts were ongoing to regulate, train and ensure the standardisation, safety and regulation of the practices of traditional health practitioners.
“The current knowledge of pharmacodynamics of drugs requires that when using natural products for health purposes we get them from reputable and reliable suppliers and we have seen cases of when those who want to buy some natural products were being sold fake products.
“These are problems that the Ministry of Health is battling with and we are bringing this out to show that it is not that the ministry is resisting the introduction and that is where we want the association to assist,” she noted.
The PS urged pharmacists to aside from window dispensing of drugs, go the extra mile in counselling patients.
She further noted that although cannabis was illegal in Nigeria, the state was trying to canvass for and harness the benefits of cannabis.
Aladenola said, “What we are trying to do is to make the Federal Government know that in cannabis you can still find something out of it. We have been to NDLEA and moving around and we believe that soon we will get results.
“We have seen some advantages in using cannabis, of course, we know the consequences and we also know the useful part of using cannabis. In Ondo State it is said that we have the best species of cannabis, are we now going to fold our arms while some people harvest it here, take it away and come back to sell it to us?
“What can I process and make use of here? Several people are dying of different ailments and we feel that as stakeholders in this and engage the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in this for us to work together on this.”
She further said that the “country was a major source of cannabis and ranked as the world’s third highest consumer of cannabis.
“While cannabis may offer potential health benefits, it is not without risks as the psychoactive effect can lead to impaired judgement, coordination and cognitive functioning but it can have different effects on different people. As with every natural product, it is important to consult with healthcare professionals before it is used.”
She noted that the adoption of natural medicine would not be at the risk of the clinical pharmacy.
In his remarks, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Prof Francis Oladimeji, stated that pharmacognosy highlighted remedies in natural remedies and the usage of plants as drugs.
He urged the society to further spearhead the popularisation of herbal medicine as much as clinical pharmacy and medicine and to spearhead the promotion of herbal remedies.
On her part, the NSP president, Prof Olukemi Odukoya, appealed to states that were yet to establish a board of traditional medicine to implement one.
She added, “There is no scientific evidence that it is only conventional, orthodox medicine that is the cure to diseases.
“Without traditional herbal practitioners who are the custodians of indigenous knowledge and through whom we have new molecules for drug development, there can never be health for all.”
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