"Each and every Ethiopian should know about Ethiopian traditional medicine which now is changed to modern medicine," says Dr. Iyasu Hailesilassie, a medical practitioner who is conducting extensive study on herbal medicine.

His venture into herbal medicine was, as he put it, "accidental". While working in England, he was looking for some references when he came across a book written in Amharic entitled "Metshafe Medhanit" or Book of Medicine.

The Book of Medicine contains a menu of many traditional medicines mainly made of herbs. And that book was taken by the British during their expedition in 1868 to Ethiopia to rescue their citizens who were imprisoned by Emperor Tewodros at Meqdela fortress.

Reading that book gave Dr. Iyasu an insight in to the great potentials of herbal medicine which has been traditionally practiced in Ethiopia.

"I wonder, for instance, how many people in Ethiopia know that in earlier times, Ethiopian women had used aloe vera to wash their bodies with? They just grind it, rub it over their bodies and then wash their bodies in the river. Then, they would have soft skins, finely textured. In modern times, the Europeans make shampoo out of aloe vera," say Dr. Iyasu.

He says that tens of thousands of documents containing information about herbal medicines can be found in many European countries which were taken out of Ethiopia. He aims to reprint some of them is their original forms. He is also preparing a book on herbal medicine in Amharic which will be published soon.

With eight out of ten Ethiopians having some knowledge about traditional and herbal medicine, as Dr. Iyasu put it, it is imperative that this knowledge be put into use in a more systematic way.

The level of income of most Ethiopians could be one of the factors for the need for encouraging and expending herbal medicine.

"Who are the people who use modern medicine to cure any illness?" asks Dr. Iyasu. "Few Ethiopians who can afford to go to clinics, or who have in the first place access to modern medical services go to clinics. If you go out of cities and towns for fifty or sixty kilometers, you won't see a clinic. May be, you could find some health posts in remote places. But in between you have people practicing traditional medicine who mainly depend on herbs. So it makes sense to focus on herbal medicine."

Dr. Iyasu produced an anti-dandruff hair tonic made of alo evera, cider, vinegar, endod, extracts from oils of rosemary and eucalyptus tree.

Traditionally Ethiopians used to protect their hairs from being exposed to dandruff by using some herbs and plants.

Dr. Iyasu also brought in the use of Artimisia, a plant which proved to be effective against malaria. He first came across the use of Artimisia as an anti-malaria medicine when he was working in Nigeria. In Jimma, Wollega and Shoa-Robit where he witnessed high number of people suffering from malaria, he, with the help of the Kalehiwot church and other individuals, has distributed Artimisia to the people.

An interisting aspect of Artimisia has emerged over the past five years, as Dr. Iyasu and his colleagues came across the fact that it could serve as a very stabilizing weapon for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Iyasu insists that Artimisia is not a cure for HIV/AIDS but that they have found out that HIV/AIDS patients who began taking it will have an improved CD4 count and viral load within six months. The case is still being clinically studied. Although the study took nearly five years, they need more time and research to establish the use of Artimisia as an anti- HIV/AIDS medicine, according to him.

While medicines from herbs are widely used in Ethiopia, herbal medicine is still facing problems in Ethiopia which prevented it from further expansion. "The main difficulty in Ethiopia is the lack of recognition and registration of herbal medicine. Even traditional medicine has legal recognition, but not herbal medicine," Dr. Iyasu expresses his frustration. "Herbal medicine differs from traditional medicine in that the former is clinically studied and established while the latter is not," says Dr. Iyasu also argues that the country is losing opportunities as a result of delay in recognizing herbal medicine.

"Americans make anti-malaria tablet from Artimisia. But in Ethiopia, you are tied up because thire is no law regulating the sector. When I talk to people from the Ministry of Health and Department of Medicine, they tell me that the proposed law is submitted to parliament. And it is just that, " Dr. Iyasu said.

He believes that the law regulating the sector is very important for the herbal medicine to flourish. "You need a license to start production; otherwise, all your research is going to be useless as it won't find its way to users."