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Traditional medicine is the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices
based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different
cultures that are used to maintain health, as well as to prevent,
diagnose, improve or treat physical and mental illnesses.
Traditional
medicine that has been adopted by other populations (outside its
indigenous culture) is often termed alternative or complementary
medicine.
Herbal medicines include herbs, herbal materials,
herbal preparations, and finished herbal products that contain parts of
plants or other plant materials as active ingredients.
In
Bangladesh, a long tradition of indigenous herbal medicinal systems,
based on the rich local plant diversity, is considered as very important
component of the primary health care system.
And about 75 per cent populations are getting their primary health care through traditional and herbal medicines.
We
can provide the better service through implementation of standardized
traditional medicine systems of Unani, Ayurvedic, Homoeopathy and herbal
among such people.
As the major part of the population are
opting for herbal treatment of which the unani and ayurvedic systems are
the favourite, here cost is a major factor in habituating these
alternative systems.
The popularity also stems from the
effectiveness of treatment and relative safety. Herba! medicines are
known to create least or no side effects on patients.
Thus, the
government should extend more funds and other forms of support for the
development of these traditional systems of medical care.
Current status of medical plant & herbal product industry
The
Directorate General of Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health
& Family Welfare, Govt. of Bangladesh, is the Drug Regulatory
Authority . Approved number of Unani, Ayurvedic, homoeopathic and herbal
manufacturers in Bangladesh are: Unani- 266 , Ayurvedic- 204, herbal-
25 and homoeopathic and biochemic- 79.
Medicinal plants in Bangladesh
The
large number of industries (traditional and herbal factories) have been
established in this country for producing Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathis
and Herbal medicines. It has been estimated that Bangladesh has a
market of about 330-core taka worth traditional and herbal products
annually.
Bangladesh has near about 550 medical plants. More than
300 of such medicinal plants are now in common use in the preparation
of traditional medicines in Bangladesh.
WHO has compiled a list of 21,000 medicinal plants used in different parts of the world
- Phytochemical
and pharmacological studies of some of these plants have already
resulted in the discovery and development of many important drugs - About
120 compounds from 90 different plants are now in use of prescription
drugs such as Atropine, Digoxin,Morphine, Peclitaxol etc. - The global market of herbal medicine is growing very fast.
WHO has forecasted in 2020 this market will be of $ 3 trillion and in 2050 it will be $ 5 trillion.
- We can avail this opportunity.
Traditional medicine & world health
According
to a report of WHO, about 80 per cent of the world population rely on
traditional medicine for their primary health care needs.
Even in the developed countries, complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) is gaining more popularity and is being developed.
Turnover of medicinal plants in Bangladesh
A
recent study on medicinal plants marketing in Bangladesh sponsored by
SEDF and Intercooperation (1C) conducted in October 2003, reviewed the
current status and estimated the quantity and value of medicinal plants
used as raw materials in large companies, small companies, herbal
doctors/ practitioner and spent annually on approximately 17,500 tonnes
medicinal plant materials accounting Tk 81 cr.
Export-import trends of medicinal plants
Currently,
the export of medicinal plant is in a rising state. But considering the
huge export market globally, we are still in a rudimentary stage.
United Arab Emirates is the top export market of medicinal plants for Bangladesh followed by Pakistan and United Kingdom.
In
terms of volume, only about 10 per cent of the medicinal plants used as
raw materials, come from local Bangladesh source and the remaining part
is imported (more Tk 500 million: from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
China, Vietnam, Iran) for production of traditional and herbal
medicines. We can save this money by popularizing medicinal plant
cultivation.
Quality checking recommendations
For
quality checking of herbal products WHO, European Medicine Agency,
United States Pharmacopoeia have recommended the following tests:
- Microscopic evaluation
- Macroscopic Evaluation
- Identification test (of principal active constituents)
- Determination of foreign matter
- Determination of Ash (total ash & acid insoluble ash)
- Determination of Heavy metals
- Determination of microbial contaminants and aflatoxins
- Determination of pesticide residues
- Determination of radioactive contamination
- Assay of active components
Medicinal plant cultivation in Bogra and Rajshahi districts
Small
farmers profitably doing cultivation in small strips of lands in their
homesteads in the rural areas, village road side in Bogra. They are most
cultivating Basak, Tulsi, Arshwagandha, Shatamuli and Kalomegh.
Various impacts
There
are immense prospects of exporting medicinal plants, herbs, herbal
extracts and finished products from Bangladesh providing:
- Cultivation of the medicinal plants and herbs for local and export
- Practising of GACP, GHP for processing, preserving and standardizing of medicinal plants for export
- Practising GMP in the production of traditional and herbal finished products for local consumption and exportation
- The
cultivation of such medicinal herbs and plants is a source of
employment and income at the grass roots level, (such as peoples of
MONGA areas are returning the loans taken from NGOs) e. Also earning
substantial foreign currencies for the country
Special impacts
A
medicinal plants cultivation in the rural area of the Northern part of
Bangladesh at Monga affected areas especially in the small strips of
land in the homestead or village road side of marginal or low income
people with special impacts on:
- Economical
- Social
- Environmental and others
Economical impact
About 60,000 marginal farmer families are earning through medicinal plant cultivation in the northern part of Bangladesh.
Poverty
has been alleviated as they are earning from Tk. 5000 to 25000/month
Women participation in earning process is maximum, so they are also
contributing to the economy
Social impact
The medicinal plant cultivation and marketing model enhances social integrity through arranging interaction among the farmers.
The education provided by LSP and the collection centre based social contacts enhances social value.
Collective effort in medicinal plant cultivation, harvesting and processing.
Social gathering and dependency through LSP based self training programme.
Initiation of saving money through developing cooperative society
Environmental impact
- Huge cultivation of medicinal plant in the abundant land has enhanced forest development (450 KM road side)
- Use of natural pesticides and organic fertilizer enhance the caring for environment.
Roadside basak cultivation decreased the soil erosion.
Governmental initiatives for development of this sector
The
herbal medicine sector also received a further boost as the government
termed herbs and herbal medicine as one of the five priority sectors to
diversify the country's export basket
An independent and
autonomous council named Medicinal Plant & Herbal Product Business
Promotion Council formed under Ministry of Commerce. The council is
working as public-private partnership for export diversification and
overall business development.
A dedicated board under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare formed as Bangladesh Board of Unani and Ayurvedic systems.
Initiatives from the private sector
Currently following associations are working with Ministry of Commerce for the development of the sector:
- Bangladesh Homoeopathic Medicine Manufacturers Association(BHMMA)
- Bangladesh Unani Aushadh Shilpa Samity (BUASS)
- Bangladesh Herbal Food & Cosmetics Association (BHFCA)
- Bangladesh Herbal Products Manufacturing Association (BHPMA)
Needs to be done
- To
promote this sector in achieving competency the local and global
context as well as to help the industry building capacities in the
fields of human resources and acquiring technologies. - To develop
linkage with different institutions/ enterprises at home and abroad for
the improvement of the medicinal plants and herbal product sector - To
set up common facility centre/ institute of international level for
grading or laying down the standards of quality and packing, undertaking
testing and standardization of the medicinal plants and herbal
products, training entrepreneurs along with a design .(or upgrading the
technology - To send trade mission abroad or receiving such missions from foreign countries
- To
carry out research/study on problems and prospects of the medicinal
plants and herbal products sector to achieve global competency - To arrange training and educational programme for human resource development
- To publish journals, books, brochures, posters, flyers ,circulars, periodicals etc
- To organize exhibition, seminar, symposium, social mobilization meeting etc.
(The author is professor , Department of Pharmaceutical Technology , University of Dhaka, Bangladesh) Courtesy: The Pharma World
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