The Nigerian community rely heavily on traditional medicine as their main source of healthcare, says the World Health Organization
Egunbiyi Yinusa has spent his entire life treating patients in southwest Nigeria utilizing herbs and plants that have been widely available and simple to locate.
However, the traditional healer returned empty-handed five hours after leaving his home in Oyo state in July in quest of the root of the increasingly uncommon violet tree, which is used to treat STIs.
Yinusa, who is in his sixties and learnt the practice from his father when he was a teenager, stated that he had not seen it in about two years.
There are also fewer of other healing plants, like Cyanthula prostrate, which is used to cure asthma and is known locally as sawerepepe.
Yinusa explained that because of the destruction around the town of Oyo, sawerepepe had become much harder to locate and that in order to collect them now, one must travel far into the trees.
According to practitioners and academics, overharvesting, forest losses, and more extreme weather connected to climate change are jeopardizing important species, making it difficult to find Nigeria’s traditional medicinal herbs.
That poses a threat to the tradition and culture of the nation in addition to the livelihoods of traditional herbalists like Yinusa and the health of their clients.
According to Nigeria’s health ministry, traditional medicine serves as the primary form of treatment for 80% of the population, mainly in rural regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that this percentage is typical for sub-Saharan Africa.
Many Nigerians rely significantly on traditional medicine because they cannot afford or access contemporary health facilities, which are sometimes limited by a lack of staff and funds.
However, the public’s traditional healthcare costs are rising due to the growing scarcity of medicinal plants, and doubts are mounting over the efficacy of alternative treatments.
Adelodun Majekobaje, a PhD researcher at Louisiana State University in the United States, said, “It’s a slippery slope… the increase in price (means) a lot of people can’t afford it, which is gradually limiting accessibility to healthcare.”
The forest science expert continued, “(and) traditional doctors would choose an option that they have not actually investigated to determine whether it is effective, so making herbal treatments less effective.
Deforestation
Another traditional healer, Hossein Ajulo, said he had recently had difficulty finding the correct herbs in the city of Osogbo in the Osun state, which is east of Oyo.
That is “Herbs range in degree of become harder to get. Some people in the town are still difficult for me to reach “explained the 32-year-old, who, like Yinusa, acquired the trade from his family and has been a traditional medical practitioner for ten years.
It wasn’t the case before, he continued, “and I have to go to get some now, or seek out to herb collectors outside.”
More than 8,000 plant species in Nigeria have the potential to be used medicinally, and according to statistics from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, 15 of these species are severely endangered, 18 are endangered, and 146 are threatened.
According to Adeniyi Jayeola, a botany professor at the University of Ibadan in Oyo state, widespread deforestation brought on by industrial expansion is the primary cause of this. Other factors also play a role, such as the consequences of climate change.
Global Forest Watch, a monitoring and data platform, estimates that between 2001 and 2021, Nigeria lost 2.8 million acres of its forest cover, or 11% less than in 2000.
According to the Nigerian government’s 2018 report, deforestation caused the country to lose 96% of its indigenous forests.
However, Jayeola noted that the issue with medicinal herbs is considerably more worrying than such data might imply.
Because of habitat fragmentation, which is now widespread across the continent, many medicinal plants can no longer be found in forests, he said, adding that other plants cannot grow in damaged woods.
Regulation Requests
Numerous practitioners of traditional medicine claimed that due to the scarcity of the plants and the rising costs of paying people along the entire value chain, from collectors to distributors, the price of acquiring herbal remedies had increased for them.
“There is a very large change in price,” Yinusa said, adding that the increase had been 50–100% on average over the previous four years. We strive not to increase the cost of medications and therapies since we feel we are helping people, but there has been a change in pricing.
The National Association of Traditional Medicine Practitioners’ Shaba Meikudi said building new botanical gardens could guarantee that “we can raise these therapeutic plants that are gradually being wiped out” in order to address shortages.
To safeguard plant species, Nigeria maintains 34 botanical gardens, the majority of which are run by universities and government organizations.
However, Jayeola, who also oversees the University of Ibadan’s botanical garden, one of the oldest in Nigeria, said that it is insufficient to address the dearth of medicinal plants and urged for the creation of “extractive gardens.”
According to Jayeola, these gardens would only be created for commercial gain and would be used to cultivate medicinal plants that are in risk of extinction so that traditional healers could purchase them. He added that such gardens have been successful in South Africa.
In order to preserve biodiversity, the researcher recommended the Nigerian government to control plant gathering.
Source; https://www.foxnews.com/world/nigerias-deforestation-leaves-traditional-medicine-scarce
