MEDICINAL PLANTS FORUM FOR COMMONWEALTH AFRICA HELD IN CAPE TOWN, 4 TO 6 DECEMBER 2000

• MEDICINAL PLANTS FORUM FOR COMMONWEALTH AFRICA
  HELD IN CAPE TOWN, 4 TO 6 DECEMBER 2000
  
  RECOMMENDATIONS
  
  PRODUCTION and SUSTAINABLE TRADE
  
  a) WILD CRAFTING
  
  1. Develop a certification programme for sustainable harvested
  medicinal plants possibly modeled on the Forest Stewardship Council
  timber certification schemes.
  2. Encourage "interim" and " local level" certification efforts
  even before international schemes are developed
  3. Develop international Good Harvesting Practice (GHP) standards
  possibly based on the UK Soil Association recent draft to match existing
  codes of Good Agricultural Practice (GAPs) and Good Manufacturing
  Practice ( GMPs)
  4. Undertake market research to identify which herbal extracts and
  preparations use predominantly wild crafted raw materials and promote
  the findings amongst buyers of medicinal plants and extracts.
  5. Encourage Fair Trading Companies to begin marketing sustainably
  harvested medicinals as a special product category.
  6. Educate both producers and consumers that sustainably grown
  medicinals are NOT necessarily inferior in terms of quality and efficacy
  to wild harvested materials
  7. Raise awareness amongst governments and conservationists about
  the social
  impact of switching from wild crafted to cultivated medicinal plants
  b) PRODUCTION
  1. Create stronger links between herbal practioners /product
  formulators and collectors and growers of medicinal herbs ( possibly
  based on the Kwazulu Natal Dept of Agriculture Model)
  2. Promote a greater awareness amongst traditional healers of the
  economic and environmental benefits of switching from wild harvested to
  cultivate medicinal plants
  3. Encourage more research into the agronomy and post harvest
  technology of medicinal plants and to lobby World Bank, FAO, and CGIAR
  to switch resources from the commodity crops to this sector
  4. Research and development priorities for the medicinal plants in
  Africa should focus on the crops which can help alleviate symptoms of
  critical diseases such as AIDS and Malaria
  5. Encourage coordinated planning between Government agencies
  responsible for agriculture, health and the environment to avoid
  contradictory policies and interventions
  6. Lobby government to review regulatory and other policy measures
  that hinder the development of the thriving medicinal plant industry
  7. Promote a strong local demand for medicinal plants and build up
  a local market prior to launching major export programmes
  8. Develop Quality Control /Quality Assurance mechanisms to enhance
  the quality, safety and efficacy of herbal remedies sold on the local
  market
  9. Encourage the integration of traditional medicine into rural
  health service provision both at the national and local level ( as in
  Ghana and Tanzania)
  10. Develop training programmes to raise the level of technical
  skills in the field of cultivation, post harvest handling and farm level
  processing of medicinal plants
  c) TRADE
  1. Ensure that national and international regulations concerning
  the collection and export of "endangered" medicinal plants incorporate
  the views and opinions of ALL stakeholders prior to their implementation
  
  2. Lobby for changes in the regulatory environment which in many
  countries actively hinders the development of medicinal plant
  production, value addition and trade
  3. Find mechanisms to disseminate technical and economic
  information on the production and trade in medicinal plants both in
  Africa and to Africa from outside centres of herbal research and
  development
  4. Develop product specifications for key African medicinals that
  are appropriate to different markets and end users
  5. Stimulate international trade by sensitizing the Afro-American
  and African emigrant populations living in Europe and USA as to the
  benefits and value of African products
  6. Promote a greater worldwide awareness of the rich heritage of
  African medicine and a greater respect for African based science and
  research into herbal drugs
  7. Encourage regional co-operation between producers and processors
  of medicinal plants in order to reap the benefits of economies of scale
  needed for value added activities
  8. Develop trade promotion programmes that help African producers
  and exporters raise their profile on international markets
  
  AFRICAN MEDICINE & THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT FOR HERBAL MEDICINE
  
  a) REGULATORY REFORM
  
  1. Create a climate of political will for regulatory reform
  2. Encourage a greater recognition and respect for indigenous
  knowledge and preserve and build on indigenous knowledge in the
  conservation and use of medicinal plants
  3. Lobby Government and international agencies such as OAU , World
  Bank and
  WHO to focus more strongly on the traditional medicine sector
  4. Structure a regulatory system that ensures the supply of
  traditional medicines that are: Safe, Effective, High Quality, Widely
  available , Affordable
  5. Create a regulatory system should be quick, efficient,
  appropriate, applicable, controllable
  6. The traditional medicine sector should be directly involved in
  formulating national health policy and regulation, in partnership with
  the modem medical sector
  7. Encourage the development of national, regional and
  international associations of traditional and Community Medicine health
  practitioners to enhance regulatory reform
  8. Develop improved mechanisms for community/grassroots involvement
  in regulatory process
  9. Develop guidelines for benefit sharing in traditional medicine
  b) PROGRAMME INTERVENTIONS
  1. Create improved mechanisms for grassroots involvement in
  medicinal plants
  production and conservation programmes
  2. Encourage community-based research on the health effects of
  traditional
  medicine
  3. Develop mechanisms within health service for improved training
  in traditional medicine for both traditional healers and modern health
  care practioners
  4. Develop guidelines for the development of standard quality
  African herbal
  medicines although recognising that not all traditional remedies need to
  be standardised
  5. National policy and planning must include conservation and
  conservation
  education. Such programmes should include development of home gardens,
  forest conservation measures and a range of in-situ and ex-situ
  medicinal
  plant conservation programmes
  6. Develop investment policies that encourage direct support for
  organisations involved in the cultivation and export of medical plants
  and plant based products
  7. Create an awareness of the possible need for land reform to
  encourage a
  shift from wild crafting to the cultivation of medicinal plants by poor
  and rural communities
  8. Develop mechanisms to promote a greater interaction between
  industry and
  government.
  9. Develop adequate infrastructure for data collection retrieval
  use and
  dissemination in the field of African medicine and medicinal plants
  10. Governments should recognise and strengthen the role of women in
  conservation and traditional health systems
  11. National/intemational including the Commonwealth should focus
  support for traditional medicine on priority disease, particularly my /
  AIDS and Malaria
  12. There should be a monitoring system developed to ensure that
  there is a
  rapid research response to promising findings and important treatments
  based
  on traditional medicine
  
  RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
  
  1. Intensify documentation of the medicinal use of African herbs in
  form of
  monographs and/or pharmacopoeia. Information should include data on
  plants
  species, uses of plant parts, indications etc.
  2. Increase possibilities for joint meetings of different local,
  national
  and transnational associations, organizations/authorities to discuss,
  exchange and harmonize their interests in the field of medicinal plant
  research and development
  3. Support for scientific research in Africa by African
  organizations
  4. Support scientific exchanges for African scientists to
  collaborate with
  non-African countries
  5. Support in industrial/entrepreneur training and establishment of
  market linkages between Africa and other continents such as Europe
  6. Develop educational programmes for healthcare industries and
  African governments for scientific and traditional herbal medicine and
  the role of botanicals for human health
  7. Support programmes encouraging the preservation of African
  genetic resources and the expansion of regional and international
  genetic resource institutes (gene banks) to include medicinal plant
  collections
  8. Support for technology transfer in the field of medicinal plants
  and herbal medicines
  9. Development of improved information networks
  10. Explore the potential for launching some African plant materials
  as dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, food additives on non-African
  countries
  11. Lobby non-African organizations and associations such as
  Commonwealth
  Secretariat and Centre for Development of Enterprises for financial and
  technical support in the development of medicinal plants sector

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