The healing plants

Medicinal plants native to developing countries are often exported to developed countries where they are screened, analysed and used in drug preparations, only to be returned as high-priced medicines.

The therapeutic value and healing powers of plants were demonstrated to me when I was a boy of about ten. I had developed an acute, persistent abdominal pain which did not respond readily to hospital medication. My mother had taken me to the city's central hospital on several occasions where different drugs were administered. In total desperation, she took me to Egya Mensa, a well-known herbalist in my home town in the Western Province of Ghana. This man was no stranger to the medical doctors at the hospital. He had earned the reputation of offering excellent help when they were confronted with difficult cases where Western medicine had failed to effect a cure.

After a brief interview, not very different from those that occur daily in the consulting offices of many general medical practitioners, he left us waiting in his consulting room while he went out to the field. He returned with several leaves and the bark of a tree, and one of his attendants immediately prepared a decoction. I was given a glass of this preparation; it tasted extremely bitter, but within an hour or so I felt some relief. The rest of the decoction was put in two large bottles so that I could take doses periodically. Within about three days the frequent abdominal pains stopped and I regained a good appetite. I have appreciated the healing powers of medicinal plants ever since.

My experience may sound unusual to those who come from urban areas of the developed world, but for those in the less affluent nations such experiences are a common occurrence. In fact, demographic studies by various national governments and intergovernmental organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that for 75 to 90 percent of he rural populations of the world, the herbalist is the only person who handles their medical problems.

In African culture, traditional medical practitioners are always considered to be influential spiritual leaders as well, using magic and religion along with medicines. Illness is handled with man's hidden spiritual powers and with the application of plants that have been found especially to contain healing powers.

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