Nairobi — Last month, Zambia's ministry of health put some 25 HIV-positive people on an unique experiment- a three month trial on herbal medicine to establish whether it can be used to treat the syndrome.

According to the country's minister for health, the trials will conform to World Health Organization guidelines. Last year in cognisance of the potential benefits from traditional, complementary and alternative medicines, the WHO released new guidelines on their proper use.

The guidelines are expected to assist national health authorities in developing countries wishing to give more legal latitude to the application of alternative medicine in their respective health systems.

According to WHO, at least 80 per cent of the population in the developing world depend on alternative medicine in their primary healthcare needs, this makes the medicine a cornerstone in the health care system especially in Africa and Asia.

Several African government have already adopted policy frameworks to incorporate alternative medicine in their modern healthcare systems. What is needed now to make the policies work is to provide the necessary infrastructure on the ground.

Kenya stands to benefit from medicinal plants in more ways than just curative. Already, albeit, with teething licensing problems, farmers in several parts of the country have started cultivating plants such as aloe and the Chinese wormwood for the export market. Unfortunately such farmers seem to have moved much faster than government agencies in ensuring that Kenya benefits from the new thinking.

Kenyans, closely associated with this sub-sector, may remember 2002 with nostalgia when the former Minister for Health, Prof Sam Ongeri, made a strong push for the inclusion of alternative medicine into the mainstream health care system. He is credited with the introduction of the traditional medicines Bill 2002 which is yet to be tabled in Parliament for discussion and subsequent action.

But for this Bill to serve for posterity, harvesting of these plants and their production practices must be the pillar of the proposed policy and legislation. Such must recognise their potential in creating wealth through the establishment of micro-enterprise.

Local processing and packaging of herbal products is an important means of strengthening micro-enterprise development and capturing value-added in what could otherwise be a low-revenue earning commodity industry.

Studies carried out by the UN Industrial Development Organization indicate that the sale of extracts rather than raw plant materials can increase the value of the product tenfold.

Consequently new thinking is needed to ensure continuous supply of the medicines used by the majority and also to ensure that benefits accrue to those communities involved at the primary stages of processing.

The fact that there is phenomenal growth in the use of herbal compounds by people living with HIV/Aids should be of concern to clinicians and policy makers. It is evident that patients will continue to access traditional healing systems, as it is important to local cultural values and beliefs.

Therefore, efforts should be made by mainstream health professionals to provide validated information to traditional healers and patients on the proper use of herbal remedies. This may reduce harm through failed expectations, pharmacological adverse events and unnecessary added therapeutic costs.

Efforts should also be directed at evaluating the possible benefits of natural products in HIV treatment. There are two main characteristics, which make herbal medicine an appealing form of health care. The first is the attitude taken by herbalists in treating patients, the "patient-centred" approach is at the core of the way herbalists treat.

During a consultation session, the symptoms and signs are analysed in the context of the complete physiology of the patient, and patterns of dysfunction are determined.

The second characteristic which makes herbal medicine different is the fact that plant extracts are still used, rather than isolated chemicals from the plants.

James Njoroge is a consultant with Institute of Herbal Medicine, email; insherbmed@yahoo.co