As drug prices increase, Nigerians turn to herbal remedies

DW (English)

Nigeria's herbal medicines have long been popular, but they have rarely been tested for effectiveness or safety. The country's food and drug administration now says it would consider approving some herbal treatments, if they are tested first.

Transcript

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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