Towards the scientific validation of traditional medicinal plants

A large proportion of the population of developing countries uses tradition al medicine alone, or in combination with Western drugs to treat a wide var iety of ailments. There has seldom been effective collaboration between the traditional and Western medical practitioners, largely due to the percepti on that the use of traditional and herbal medicines has no scientific basis . With the renewed interest from Western countries in herbal remedies, and the increasingly urgent need to develop new effective drugs, traditionally used medicinal plants have recently received the attention of the pharmaceu tical and scientific communities. This involves the isolation and identific ation of the secondary metabolites produced by the plants and used as the a ctive principles in medical preparations. Research into the scientific vali dation of southern African medicinal plants used in the treatment of pain a nd inflammation, hypertension and parasitic diseases including those with a nthelmintic, anti-amoebic, anti-bacterial and anti-bilharzia activity, is t he current focus of studies conducted at the Research Centre for Plant Grow th and Development.