Africa’s herbal secrets fight AIDS

NYERI, Kenya— Jack Githae believes Africa could defeat its catastrophic AIDS epidemic if only it would embrace the healing powers of herbs.Stalking into the bush with a knife and briefcase in search of asparagus, the Kenyan healer symbolises a growing belief among African herbalists that ancient wisdom could turn the tide of a modern disease.“To me this is a natural pharmacy,” said Githae, 56, gesturing at a woodland clearing on the slopes of Mount Kenya.“We have seen such miraculous cures from this natural pharmacy in the last 30 years that I don’t tell anybody ‘you are going to die’,” he said.Traditional healers across the continent say their remedies offer huge potential to fight diseases like tuberculosis and pneumonia that prey on HIV patients, but accuse governments and doctors of spurning their offers of help.“How can we ignore such knowledge when people are dying like flies?,” said the grey-bearded Githae, who cuts a slightly incongruous figure wearing a white lab coat in the woods.Battling what they say is a wall of scepticism and prejudice in much of the medical establishment, herbalists are hoping to win more government support to distribute their remedies.Africa has 28.1 million of the world’s 40 million people living with HIV-AIDS. Healers say even the most sceptical of Western-trained doctors need all the help they can get.Herbalists argue that their pills and potions are cheap, available in remote areas, and above all, that they work.“We went with those people who the white doctors had abandoned and told to go home and die,” said Credo Mutwa, an 80-year-old South African healer and visionary.“We brought them back from the shores of death,” he said, adding that he uses the Sutherlandia Frutescens plant to combat AIDS-related wasting.For centuries, African healers have used plants to treat illnesses like diarrhoea and lung infections that attack immune systems shattered by HIV. It is these diseases, rather than the virus itself, that can kill AIDS patients.Such herbs are affordable. Githae charges 250 shillings ($3.20) a week for a concoction for HIV patients that he says boosts their immunity levels. Pharmacies charge at least sh1,500 for an equivalent dose of anti-retroviral drugs.While doctors say they want more evidence that traditional remedies work, many patients swear by them. “I was suspicious of herbal medicine. I thought of it as witchcraft,” said one 26-year-old HIV-positive Kenyan woman, who uses a Neem tree soap to treat herpes. “Now everyone asks me what I use on my skin because I don’t have ugly wounds any more,” she said.The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 80% of people rely on herbs in countries from South Africa to Ethiopia.Reuterends