Over 60 percent of Tanzanians use herbs for treatment

    

By The Citizen Reporter

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Dodoma. The acting director of Health-care Services at the Health Ministry, Dr Caroline Damiani, says over 60 percent of Tanzanians use traditional medicines to

treat different diseases before or after trying ordinary health-care centres.

Dr Damiani made the remark yesterday in the capital Dodoma when opening a training seminar for traditional doctors.

The seminar aimed at exchanging experiences among the herbalists and discussing various challenges and strategies of improving the profession of traditional and alternative medicine so that it can continue benefitting Tanzanians.

“Over 60 percent of Tanzanians, at one time or another, get treated by traditional medicine against various diseases before or after going to our health centres or hospitals providing modern health-care services,” said Dr Damiani.

She said the main goal of the seminar was to ensure that the medicine made by the experts were better from the stages of growing, harvesting, manufacturing, preserving to the stage of reaching the consumer so that there should not be side-effects.

According to Dr Damiani, so far the Health Ministry, through the Traditional and Alternative Health Practice Council, has managed to register 73 types of traditional medicine out of which 20 had great positive results during the period of fighting against the Covid-19 disease.

For his part, the representative of traditional and alternative medicine doctors, Mr Shaban Omary Shekilindi - who doubles as the Lushoto MP - praised the ministry, through its traditional and alternative medicine unit, for organising the seminar that reminded them to observe the country’s laws on traditional medicines.