By S, KNA
Traditional medicine practitioners in Nyeri have been advised to form or join existing cooperative societies as one way of enhancing their trade.
Trade, Tourism and Culture County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Diana Kendi says for the practitioners to excel in their trade, they need to coalesce themselves into groups that can help them showcase their products to the public.
She said while the county will do everything to open opportunities through which such cottage industries can thrive, it remains the responsibility of the concerned players to look for avenues that can popularise them to the world.
“What we are trying to do is to put them (traditional medicine practitioners) into cooperative societies since there is a law that governs associations and therefore it will be easier to manage them. Currently we have at least 15 registered cooperatives in Nyeri for such practitioners but we really want those who have not joined to do so,” she told KNA.
While there is no actual figure in regard to the total number of traditional medicine practitioners in Kenya, studies from the late 2010s estimated them to be around 40,000 to 60,000.
And while traditional health practitioners are rarely recognised among core health providers, they managed to register their services under the umbrella of Kenya National Traditional Health Practitioners Association (NATHEPA) on October 29 ,2021.
Among the roles of the association is to advocate for recognition of traditional medicine, register practitioners, and set professional standards for traditional medicines and practices.
Kendi says some of the challenges hampering the recognition of traditional medicine is due to lack of scientific research to ascertain their efficacy unlike conventional remedies.
She says that unlike trained medics who go through medical colleges before they can be qualified as health providers, traditional health practitioners learn their trade through word of mouth.
“A lot of the herbal medicine that we have has not gone through the sacrifice of scientific requirements. A lot of times the information I regard to alternative medicine has been passed through successful generations and therefore in 2020 we started a programme to bring them together and today some have even sold their patents.” she continued.
“With herbal medicine the information is not there. In addition, the medicine has not been tested through what we call a clinical trial and therefore the process of knowing whether it works is very difficult.”
Aside from efficacy issues, the county government is also partnering with recognised government institutions such as the Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology and the Kenya Medical and Research Foundation (KEMRI) in improving their visibility.
In addition, Kendi says the government has been pushing for the recognition of herbal treatments as alternative sources of remedies in combating known and emerging ailments.
“We are now trying to bring in the Kenya Medical and Research Foundation to look at how we can look at broad acceptance of traditional medicine and the things that were raised by KEMRI such as dosage and efficacy. We are trying as a government towards that broad-based acceptance of traditional medicine. We have seen instances in which traditional medicine has been effective.What we are trying to do is to go through a scientific process to ascertain these claims.” she stated.