Tanzania Potential for Traditional Medicine

By James Kamala

TANZANIA has potential for becoming an alternative traditional medicine powerhouse if dealers invest in quality product packaging and sales.

Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Traditional and

Alternative Medicine Assistant Director, Dr Paulo Mhame, said at least 15 remedies were produced during the Covid-19 outbreak.

"Among them was Covidol, which proved effective in healing flu, cough, difficult breathing and chest pain," he said.

"This means the country has high potential for managing complex health conditions," Dr Mhame said during an interview on the effectiveness of Covidol and other traditional medication.

Dr Mhame said the challenge among traditional medicine producers was lack of quality packaging which increased product visibility and marketing.

The assistance director advised producers to change their strategies to attract more businesses.

Prof Hamisi Malebo, the founder of Covidol and a PhD holder in Medicinal Phytochemistry, said the country was blessed with various rare medicinal plants.

"We should capitalise on our advantages since medicinal herbs are safe from chemical contamination. The only bad thing is that they are left to untrained traditional healers alone," Prof Malebo noted.

On the importance of registering and testing herbal cures before marketing them, Prof Malebo said Covidol got certification from some governmental institutions for human consumption.

Three months ago, the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) set aside 1.5bn/- for funding proposals on the impact of Covid-19 and research projects.