Traditional & Alternative Medicine

Biography

Biography: Ajibola Ola Peters

Abstract

The major challenge of traditional herbal medicine is the availability, which is under serious threat. Over 90% of the medicinal plants used by the traditional doctors and industries worldwide today are collected from the wild. 10% species of plants are under commercial cultivation. Over 80 % of the plant collections involve destructive harvesting by timber exploiter companies and traditional doctors because of the use of parts like roots, bark, stem, leaf and in some cases, the whole plant. This shows a definite threat and challenge to the genetic stocks and to the diversity of medicinal plants as well as the need for conservation and cultivation of endangered species. Presently, 85% of the world population is using and relies on medicinal plant medication for common and emerging diseases. The majority of pharmaceutical processing companies have also diverted their focus to selected effective medicinal plants formulae for re-production because they foresee that in future, 95% of the whole world will prefer natural herbal medication because of their prominent role in treating existing and emerging diseases. There has been a serious investment in herbal medicine and research by public-health bodies in many countries including China, South Africa and USA. In 2004, the National Cancer Institute committed nearly US$ 89 million to study a range of traditional therapies. In recent years, more than $2 billion has been committed by public- health bodies. The growing investment and worldwide faith in its consumption has shown that the future direction of traditional herbal medicine will soon be the world’s popular choice.