00:00Morufat Razak is a herbal and traditional medicine practitioner.
00:05She is preparing Agbo, a popular herbal concoction in Nigeria's southwest, used by many to
00:12treat various illnesses.
00:15Agbo is traditional.
00:18Our forefathers are traditional people.
00:20Agbo works well in the body.
00:22We get it from roots and tree bark, and it works for fever, piles, stomach pain, malaria,
00:27typhoid, headaches.
00:29Once we mix everything together, it will heal the illness.
00:37Morufat is part of Nigeria's growing traditional medicine sector.
00:42Recent rising costs of medical drugs have helped drive an increase in demand for more
00:48affordable herbal remedies.
00:51And the increase in demand has been profitable for the herbal wholesalers as well as the
00:56practitioners.
00:58We are selling very well right now, a lot.
01:05Those are sales going on there.
01:06We bought the herbs yesterday and we are almost done selling them today, so we can use the
01:11profit to buy more.
01:14Our business is profitable.
01:15Herbs are profitable.
01:17And they work.
01:20But the traditional medicine business could pick up even more.
01:26Recently, the head of Nigeria's Food and Drug Agency said she would consider adding
01:32some remedies to the government's approved list of treatments if they underwent testing.
01:37Bearing in mind, these herbal medicines have been used by our forefathers and foremothers.
01:45However, we don't know whether it has caused a lot of harm in the past.
01:51What we expect practitioners to do is to now take it further for clinical trial.
01:59But in Nigeria, the reality is that clinical trial is very costly.
02:06Without support of the government or private institutions, it will be difficult to do clinical
02:16trials.
02:17The head of the Government Agency for Developing Natural Medicine agrees and says funding for
02:23trials is vital for Nigeria's herbal remedies sector to move forward.
02:29Once government makes research and development a priority, once private sector sees research
02:35and development as a priority development of our own natural medicines, then no country
02:41will see a break light, especially in Africa.
02:45Back at her kiosk in Lagos, Morufat's agbo sales are going well and her customers appear
02:52unconcerned about any lack of clinical trials.
02:57I take agbo from time to time.
03:00I take agbo.
03:01Even with the normal medicine you take, I still come back to take agbo because agbo
03:07goes down to the roots of whatever you are treating and flush it out.
03:13I take agbo for the sake of my, if I'm not feeling well, for me to be strong and healthy,
03:21so I take agbo.
03:24As the price of medical drugs rises, more people will turn to traditional practitioners
03:30like Morufat.
03:31For many, it may be the only treatment they can afford.
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