Public urged to help promote herbal medicine

15-03-2011
Narration: The Health Programmes Officer of the Association of Church-Base Development NGOs in Ghana, Esinam Khavi, has emphasized the need to build the capacity of traditional herbal medicine practitioners so that they can be abreast with the emerging trend on the preparation and sale of herbal medicine for better health. According to her herbs from the very onset of life were part of the African society and were used in treating all kinds of ailment, be it physical or spiritual but with the advent of colonialism on the continent the situation has changed as orthodox medicine has gained grounds, thus shifting the attention of the people from the usefulness of herbal medicine. She however stressed the urgent need to work out modalities to rid off quack herbal medical practitioners from the system to help bring sanity to the herbal industry. Madam was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Northern Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association held at Bolgatanga. Isaac Asare was there for Radio Ghana.
CU IN
END CUE
ANCR V/




Report

The inauguration of the Northern Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association was marked with a procession through the principal streets of Bolgatanga with some members holding placards with inscriptions that reads” promote good health with herbal healers, ”before the white traditional practice was, “ Ghana Health Service, let us collaborate among others. Addressing members, Madam Khavi who is the Health Programme of ACDEP acknowledged the enormous contribution traditional medicine play in the health service delivery of the country but was quick to express her dissatisfaction about the way some so called herbal practitioners operate without taking into considering the consequences of their self centered activities. Some he observed has no basic knowledge as to how herbal medicine is prepared for the treatment of diseases but rather defy all odds to prove their ignorance on the practice. This she lamented should not be condoned in any way adding that her outfit is determined to encourage to build the capacity of herbal medical practitioners and moreover engage practitioners in the sharing of knowledge and experience for the improvement of health service delivery. She said as part of their health programme, ACDEP since 2007 has been implementing the traditional medicine project which seeks to improve upon the capacity of traditional herbal practitioners of northern Ghana, indicating that 80 percent of the Ghanaian population particularly those in northern Ghana rely on traditional medicine for the treatment of diseases. Ms. Khavi, however touched on the urgent need to improve the linkage between herbal and orthodox practitioners so as to ensure better health care within the rural communities. She later pledged her outfit’s determination to contribute their quota to the promotion of traditional medicine. In an interview with Radio Ghana, the Northern Coordinator of the Ghana Federation of Traditional and Medical Practitioners, (GHAFTRAM), Madam Faiza Ibrahim Taimako said the overall objective of forming the association was to enable herbal practitioners within the three northern regions come together as a body to help address some of the challenges confronting them in the course of their activities and to also foster close collaboration between traditional healers and orthodox healers in the treatment of diseases. The idea is to also bring on board relevant stakeholders to brainstorm on the way forward in the promotion of herbal medicine. She declared an upcoming inauguration for Northern Ghana aimed at bridging barriers to break all bottlenecks associated with the activities of herbal healers. The inaugural ceremony she noted would ensure easier collaboration with other health bodies to boost the health sector of the country. She however encouraged members to work through GHAFTRAM since it is the only legitimate body that serve as the liaison between herbal practitioners and the Ghana Health Services in the promotion of health. According to her measures are being taken to encourage and train the youth to learn from experienced herbal practitioners to help bring sanity into the profession. Dr. Emmanuel Opoku on behalf of the Regional Health Directorate suggested punitive measures against quack herbal dealers since most of them contribute to maternal and infant mortality in the region and urged the various associations to streamline their operations to check the illegal activities of such individual. He therefore called for closer collaboration between herbal practitioners and the GHS for the promotion of better health in Ghana.