Let us go the Madagascar way

 

THE ongoing global search for sustainable solutions to stem the raging tide of the Coronavirus pandemic brings to mind the valuable experiences gathered while growing up in the rural area, back in the ‘Sixties. That was especially so in my father’s farmland at Ayere in the then Kabba Province of the Northern Region (both now defunct). They remain cherished. And the reasons are because we lived close to Mother Nature, gained from its helping hands which we still find useful till this day.

One of these features was the use of different herbs in the treatment of various ailments, and they proved efficacious. For instance, some of those herbs came in handy whenever a new child was born in the family. They were prepared in hot water as what the Ebira call Enyi-Ojozi and given to the young ones to ward off several diseases. A particular herb called ireru in Ebira language was used to prepare hot soup and given to the nursing mother to drink. The aim was to replenish the calories she must have lost during childbirth and reinvigorate the production of new red blood cells. Again, it worked!

Furthermore, the minor injuries sustained during cultivation and weeding of farmland as well as snake bites were treated with herbs. Malaria fever was combated with steamed neem leaves. We drank the infusion as well as inhaled the steam, while covered with calico clothes, until we sweated all the toxins out!

This inspiring scenario therefore, brings to mind the announcement of the discovery of Corona-Organics to do away with the virus, by the president of Madagascar, Andy Rajoelina. While publicly proffering it as a cure, as he drank out of a bottle of the drug, he enthused that, it has shown “encouraging results in fighting off the coronavirus”.That was on April, 20, 2020.

Not only did he lift the lockdown on three major cities in Madagascar but has gone ahead to make it compulsory for school children, given free of charge. The drug, produced at the country’s Institute of Applied Research comes as a herbal tea with Artemisia annua as the main ingredient. It is a green, leafy plant that emits a striking smell known as sweet wormwood.

So far, it has cured the few people that it has been tested on.It gives results within seven days.One of Madagascar’s top medical doctors, Dr. Charles Andrianjara, says that it should be used for prevention. Let it be noted that though the country has recorded 121 cases and no death has been reported so far. And Senegal that has taken the drug and recommended it to the citizens has had no cause for regrets.

Yes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) may have dismissed it with a wave of the hand stating that there are “no short cuts” and that “tests are on the way”. But is it all the local drugs in different countries that WHO has to recommend for people to treat their peculiar health challenges? Don’t we have evidence-based herbal cures, significant to different people and places? Must all drugs for various diseases come from the western world? The answer is a concerted “no”!

The COVID-19 has come as a wake-up call to different countries to do the needful, when it comes to looking inwards to finding solutions to endemic diseases. That makes a sense of the position of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, that traditional cure to the virus is on the way. He had earlier suggested a combination of bitter leaf, onions and parts of neem tree as a means of possible cure.

One’s candid suggestion therefore, is that instead of outright dismals of claims to cures for the diseases that afflict the people, the National Agency For Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should come in with laboratory tests to verify such claims without political colouration but in the best interest of the citizens.

With countries such as Cuba, Israel, India and now Madagascar coming forth with their own drugs Nigerians are waiting to know the outcome of the claim by Professor Maurice Iwu to having a cure. The Nigerian professor of Pharmacology from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) who is the chairman of the Imo State Task Force on COVID-19 has presented the plant-based patented treatment to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu. He has also forwarded it to the United States to test its veracity in the cure of coronavirus. It was produced to cure SARS.

Coincidentally, another Nigerian, Dr. Babafemi Taiwo, a medical professor who is the chief of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine has played a major role in the development of the anti-virus drug, Remdesivir, which has received the commendation of posting “fantastic result”.It was originally developed to treat Ebola virus, with the effective day reducing from15 to 11 days.

The clinical trial of the drug ran with the full supervision of the United States (US) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD). It has been tested on 1,063 people and has impressed Dr. Anthony Fauci who heads the agency.

Said he: “The data shows that Remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time of recovery.”

The lessons from all these medical research trajectories are for countries to look inward for likely solutions to evolving health challenges, be proactive, decisive and fund their research institutes well.

Furthermore, they should shed themselves of inferiority complex, do more with regards to researches into the use of local herbs that have been effective in treating ailments in the past, as India has been doing.

Also, the private sector should be brought into the picture; to assist in funding some researches or breathe life into useful products that have been dormant at the pilot stage. The media has an important role to play in showcasing such products of creative ingenuity to the public, because the institutes cannot afford to be speaking to themselves!

It behoves on governments-both at the state and federal levels-to sustain and build upon the infrastructures put in place to treat epidemic diseases such as the current coronavirus. Whatever happened to the previous isolation centres that came up for victims of ebola virus back in 2014!

Again, one must emphasize the need for government to earmark more percentage of the annual budgetary allocations to healthcare delivery. A wealthy nation comes from its healthy citizens.

 

• Mr Baje writes via [email protected].

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING

COVID-19: Dokpesi, Daughter-In-Law, Six Other Family Members Test Positive
The founder of DAAR Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi and his daughter-in-law along with six members of his family have tested positive for coronavirus. This is coming three days after his son and Chairman of the board of the company, Raymond Dokpesi Jnr, also tested positive for the virus… Read full story

Kano And The Mad Woman Of Omu-Ijelu
Not long ago, the funny character, who presides over the affairs of Kano State as the governor, Umar Ganduje, raised the alarm that the Federal Government had literarily abandoned the state in its quest to combat the rampaging Coronavirus epidemic… Read full story

Lagos Discharges Polish, Filipino, 24 Nigerians After Testing Negative For Coronavirus
Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday announced that 26 more patients have been discharged from isolation centres in the state having tested negative twice consecutively to coronavirus. He said those discharged included 14 males and 12 females, including two foreign nationals – a Polish and a Filipino… Read full story

WHO To Identify Animal Source Of COVID-19 ― Director-General
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO), said the agency will work with relevant organisations to identify the animal source of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) based on Emergency Committee recommendations… Read full story

COVID-19: Workers Won’t Be Retrenched Without Following Due Process, Says Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has told workers that despite the expected downturn in the nation’s economy owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Government will ensure that workers won’t be retrenched without due process. Seeking to allay the fears of workers for their jobs, which has heightened recently… Read full story

COVID-19: Osun Monarchs Want Govt To Explore Herbal Medicine
SOME traditional rulers in Osun State have charged their subjects to abide by all the precautionary measures announced by the World Health Organization (WHO), Federal Government and health experts in the state so as to stay safe against the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in the country… Read full story

Nigeria COVID-19 Survivor: ‘An Experience I Don’t Wish On Anyone’
It feels great to have survived COVID-19. If you see the data of people who have passed away due to the virus, they are alarming. I’m really grateful to be alive but also grateful for the experience as I am able to share with people that COVID-19 is not a hoax like many people may believe in Nigeria… Read full story

Our Fears Living Close To Isolation Centres —Residents •Why we can’t relocate you —Govt
Lagos, which has the highest number of patients with COVID-19 infection, understandably has the highest number of isolation centres, topping four as of the last count. While two have been in use and frequently in news, two new ones located at Landmark Exhibition Centre in Victoria Island and Gbagada Hospital are… Read full story

Loss Of Smell May Suggest Milder COVID-19, Study Finds
New research suggests that loss of smell as a symptom of COVID-19 may indicate a mild case of the disease. A new study has found that loss of smell, which is a reported symptom of COVID-19, may indicate that a person will experience a milder case of the disease… Read full story

Covid19- And The Rising Global Challenge
It would not be an exaggeration to aver that Covid 19 has endangered human race globally in such a manner that is novel. Death tolls in countries like China, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, USA, Germany, Iran and others are rattling and quaking the whole world and make many to be having the fear that the globe is on the… Read full story