WHO to conduct clinical trials on African herbal medicines for coronavirus treatment
London, May 13, 2020 (AltAfrica)-A meeting of 70 experts on African traditional medicine has agreed with the World Health Organisation, WHO that clinical trials for all African herbal medicines must be carried out and included in the potential drugs/vaccine for the treatment of covid-19
The virtual meeting with WHO Africa centred on the role of traditional medicine in the COVID-19 response.
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Attendees and and the host-WHO Africa unanimously agreed that clinical trials must be conducted for all African herbal medicines submitted to the organisation for verification as potential cure for coronavirus without exception.
Enquiry by Alternativeafrica.com from WHO on the date for the clinical trials was not responded to.
But it is unlikely that such trials would make any meaningful contribution to the global search for a vaccine to cure the rampaging virus.
Already WHO says there are around seven or eight “top” candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus and work on them is being accelerated.
“We have good candidates now,” WHO DG, Tedros said. “The top ones are around seven, eight. But we have more than a hundred candidates.”
“We are focusing on the few candidates we have which can bring probably better results and accelerating those candidates with better potential,” he said.
Tedros did not identify the top candidates.
70 traditional medicine experts from countries across #Africa held a virtual meeting with @WHO on the role of traditional medicine in the #COVID19 response.
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) May 12, 2020
They unanimously agreed that clinical trials must be conducted for all medicines in the Region, without exception. pic.twitter.com/fCKYiYiMqb
Alternativeafrica.com understands that experts on African traditional medicine from 17 African countries participated in the meeting occasioned by the controversies surrounding the launch of COVID ORGANICS-a herbal remedy touted to have the potency to cure covid-19 virus by the president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina
Despite strong warnings from the WHO against the use of traditional herbs in the treatment of COVID-19 more African countries have applied for the herbal remedy to treat their coronavirus patients
Already Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Tanzania, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia have all already received thousands of doses of COVID-19 Organics free of charge.
Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria are the latest African countries to have accepted the herbal product donated to them by the Madagascar government
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has also responded to critics of his country’s much touted herbal remedy for coronavirus. He told French news channel France24 that those doubting the efficacy of the Covid-Organics, a locally produced herbal tonic from Madagascar are condescending of Africa.
“We had 171 cases, of which 105 were cured and the majority of these patients who were cured took only the product Covid-Organics,” Rajoelina said in the interview.
Covid-Organics was developed by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (Imra
