Kenyatta University will collaborate with China to package traditional medicines that can be sold as supplements, the university said in a statement.
Herbal supplements are easy to produce because they are not subject to lengthy clinical trials or the same manufacturing standards as prescription drugs.
However, tests on hundreds of indigenous plants and herbs show they are active against some infections.
Prof Paul Wainaina, the KU vice chancellor, said the university has made strides in traditional medicine development through its National Phytotherapeutic Research Centre (NPRC), situated on campus.
In the new initiative, the university will join hands with the neighbouring Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH), and the Shandong University of Traditional Medicine of China.
“This initiative seeks to provide access to the benefits of traditional medicine for both the Kenyatta University community and the wider public,” the VC said in a statement.
Prof Nicholas Gikonyo, director of NPRC, said the university’s traditional medicine centre started several years ago through a proposal to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.
Last week, a delegation from Shandong University of Traditional Medicine, and Chinese Embassy officials visited KU to sign a new MoU.
The delegation, led by the Governor of Shandong Province, Zhou Naixiang, comprised the Vice-chairman of the standing committee of Shandong Province People’s Congress, San Licheng, and the President of Shandong People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Cai Xianjin, among others.
Shandong Province's population is at 100 million, ranking it third in China's economy. Zhou underscored the pivotal role traditional medicine plays in China, indicating specific government bodies dedicated to its development.
“This collaboration will enhance the impact of traditional medicine globally,” said deputy vice-chancellor, research, innovation and product development, Prof Caroline Thoruwa.
Currently, NPRC is focusing on the commercialisation of readily available, locally sourced products.
The MoU is poised to invigorate the production of supplementary medicine, guided by the collaborative efforts of Shandong University of Traditional Medicine and Kenyatta University.
Traditional and herbal medicine continues to play a greater role in treatment globally.
The World Health Organization in August this year convened the first high-level global summit on traditional medicine to explore evidence base and opportunities to accelerate health for all.
The summit held on August 17 and 18 in India, explored the role of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine in addressing pressing health challenges and driving progress in global health and sustainable development.
“Scientists, practitioners of traditional medicine, health workers and members of the civil society organisations took part,” WHO said in a statement.
The summit charted a roadmap to scale up scientific advances in traditional medicine systems and practices.
This will include research, evidence and learning, policy, data and regulation, clinical practice, innovation and digital health, biodiversity and conservation and equitable sharing of benefits.
For decades, little attention was paid to traditional medicine in Kenya. However, the State last year revealed plans to integrate traditional medicine into the country’s healthcare system.
That means herbalists can be regulated and their medicine studied and standardised.
Kenyans can also have access to rich traditional knowledge as well as modern medicine. In some cases, the two can be integrated and complement each other.
Four years ago, more than 30 illegal herbal outlets were shut in Nairobi following a raid.
During the 2019 raid, cartons of concoctions were seized by the officials and owners of the outlets arrested.
“Traditional medicine can play an important and catalytic role in achieving UHC and meeting global health-related targets that were off-track even before the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Bringing traditional medicine into the mainstream of health care appropriately, effectively, and above all, safely based on the latest scientific evidence can help bridge access gaps for millions of people around the world.”
It emerged that desperate Kenyans are the most vulnerable to some unscrupulous herbalists, who lie to people they can cure diseases within weeks.
The sale of herbal medicine in Kenya is not regulated and some dealers openly display their wares on the street, some hawk them in public service vehicles.
Sexual enhancement drugs and those used to improve the body’s immunity are the most popular.
Due to insufficient regulation, issues such as optimal production conditions, optimal dosage, storage and for which ailments the medicine can be used have not been addressed.