Herbal mixture, otherwise known as `Agbo’ in Southwest Nigeria is considered by some people as a good alternative in curing many ailments.
The mixture is a variety of herbs believed to be fast in curing malaria, typhoid, body pains and even as sexual enhancement therapy.
According to the World Health Organisation, 80 per cent of Africans use traditional or herbal medicine for primary health care.
The herbal mixture comes as liquid, pastries, syrups or crushed mixtures of different things such as the bark, leaves, stems and roots of particular trees.
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The mixture can be soaked in a container for drinking as specified by the herbs seller.
It can also be boiled for drinking or bathing, depending on the prescription by the expert on the ailment that is being treated.
Women selling herbs in its raw form are called ‘Elewe Omo’ and are commonly seen in market places.
Mr Lekan Agbebi, a university lecturer, said the herbal mixture helped whenever he felt ill and weak.
“I grew up seeing my mother prepared `agbo’ for us. She would buy the herbs and roots and used pap water (omi ogi) to prepare it for us at home.
“So I grew up with the mindset that it worked faster especially whenever I felt sick and weak. In few days, I am well,” he said.
Others called for proper monitoring of herbs hawkers to ensure safety of lives.
Elton Etah, an Entertainment practitioner, said he patronised herbs sellers with instructions on how to cook it.
“I prefer patronising the herbs sellers (Elewe Omo) in the market.
“It was alleged that those selling the cooked ones add different types of chemicals, such as ethanol, which is said to be dangerous to health.
“They sell all types with names such as `washing and setting’; agbo Jedi man power; monkey tail. All these contain chemicals which are not to be consumed,” Etah said.
Mrs Modinat Onike, Financial Secretary of Elewe Omo Herbs Sellers Association of Nigeria, advised the Federal Government to ban hawking of cooked herbs on the streets to safe people’s lives.
“We learnt those selling the cooked herbs no longer used natural herbs and leaves like the registered sellers but they added other chemicals such as tramadol, valium, aspirin and other drugs,’’ Onike said.
She noted that unregistered herbs hawkers on the streets were the major challenge facing traditional medical practice in the country.
According to her, unregistered herbs hawkers are fond of administering wrong dosage to innocent buyers who patronise them.
“We the registered and known Elewe-Omo herbs sellers are more trained than the herbs hawkers. They are not supposed to hawk cooked herbs.
“We don’t cook the ‘agbo’ (herbs). We rather give the raw herbs and roots to our clients with instructions on usage and preparation.
“We call on the Federal Government to step into this matter as soon as possible and stop hawking of cooked herbs to safe people’s lives,” Onike said.
A forum was recently organised by Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) in Lagos, which focused on dangers associated with the use of herbal medicine.
At the roundtable, Dr Sam Etatuvie, Director-General of NNMDA, suggested more awareness and education on proper use of herbal medicine to reduce the dangers of drug abuse, especially by youths.
According to Etatuvie, the forum was organised to create awareness and inform the public about the use of herbal medicine.
He noted that about four billion people out of the estimated global population of 6.3 billion patronised the use of plants to meet their primary health care needs.
The director-general, however, expressed concern that Nigeria contributed a very insignificant percentage to the global market for natural medicine.
Etatuvie explained that whereas, China, India and some parts of Europe had huge contributions to the global market for natural medicine due to the enormous development of natural medicine products for export promotion.
“As an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NNMDA’s mandate includes research, development, promotion, documentation and education on the practice, product and technologies of natural medicine with a view to facilitating its integration into health care delivery system.
“This increase in the demand and availability of services of natural medicine has occasioned the developmental policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the health sector,” he said.
Etatuvie said that the agency had conducted several trainings for Traditional Medicine Practitioners (TMPs) in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“We have started entrepreneurial programmes for TMPs on sourcing, preservation and sales of raw materials and finished products of natural medicine.
“We have also conducted series of trainings for TMPs on the need to improve the methodology and production handling in line with the WHO standard in Good Handling Manufacturing Practices in terms of preservation, collection and movement of raw material from farm to production,” he said.
The director-general said that in the area of product development, NNMDA was working tirelessly to bring natural medicine to the consumers in a standardised form and dosage more palatable, accessible and easy to store.
“We have products from local herbs for enhancing male libido, treating malaria, repelling mosquito, reducing blood sugar and reducing blood pressure. Two of our products are already listed with NAFDAC,’’ Etatuvie said.
According to him, NNMDA has done a lot of work on the documentation of natural medicine.
He added that the agency had publications on medicinal plants from the six geopolitical zones of the country.
He explained that in these publications, various plants were listed with their common botanical Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba names, along with their medicinal uses and plant parts used.
The director-general said the books were available for sale in the agency at affordable costs.
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Etatuvie called for intervention to combat irrational use of herbal medicines and promotion of more rational motivation and adherence to good manufacturing practice and clinical guidelines by practitioners.
He also suggested awareness on herbal medicine among the general public.
To achieve the desired impact, the media can create the needed awareness to educate and inform the public about the use of herbal medicine.
This will go a long way in drawing public attention to herbal medicine and reducing the rate of youths’ involvement in irrational use of herbal medicine. (NANFeatures)