The use of herbal medicines is the oldest and most popular form of healthcare practice followed by people of all cultures in all ages. Herbal medicines include herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products that contain parts of plants or other plant materials as active ingredients. Herbal medicines are now the most popular form of traditional medicine often termed complementary medicine. It is the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures that are used to maintain health as well as prevent, diagnose, improve or treat physical or mental illness and disorder. Herbal medicines have got age-old practice and reputation and popularity known as "pro-people" or "mass-oriented" system of medicine, due to their easy accessibility, safety and popularity. At present about 70 per cent of world population is getting their primary healthcare through traditional and herbal system of medicines, according to WHO estimation. In Bangladesh, 75 per cent of our population more or less use herbal medicines for primary healthcare.
Medicinal herbs or plants: Herbs include whole plants and plant parts including leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, stems, woods, roots, barks and rhizomes in their solid, fragmented or powdered form. A considerable number of definitions have been put forward for medicinal plants. According to WHO 'It is any plant which in one or more of its organs contains substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes, or which are precursors for chemo-pharmaceutical semi-synthesis. When a plant is designated as 'Medicinal' it is taken for granted that the said plant is useful as a drug or therapeutic agent or an active ingredient of a medicinal preparation. Medicinal plants may therefore be defined as a group of plants that bear some unique properties or virtues that qualify them as ingredients of drugs and therapeutic agents and are used for medicinal purposes.
Herbal medicine at home and abroad: Herbal medicines are now the most popular form of traditional medicines, free of side effects and highly acclaimed at home and abroad. Over 4 billion of the world population are now bent towards the herbal medicine. Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Malaysia, China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Thailand, South Korea, France, Spain, Japan, India, Pakistan etc are the large users of herbal medicines today. In many developed countries, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the population either use traditional medicine or complementary medicine. In some Asian and African countries, 80 per cent of the population depend on herbal treatment. On an average 48 per cent Americans prefer herbal medicine whereas in China herbal medicines account for 40 per cent of all healthcare delivered and about 200 million patients are covered by it per annum. Some 70 per cent of the population in Chile and 40 per cent in Colombia use herbal drugs. Around 48 per cent in Australia, 70 per cent in Canada, 48 per cent in the USA, 38 per cent in Belgium and 75 per cent in France have got interest in this.
The US spends about 5.0 million dollars per year for herbal products and normally 20 per cent of people in the US use herbal commodities and medication.
The UK imports about 90 per cent of its medicinal herb requirement involving about 139 million euro market. India is a major exporter of raw medicines and aromatic plants and processed drugs. Some 70 per cent of total exports of these items are done in six big countries like France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the US. Other major importers are Bangladesh, Pakistan and Spain.
Use of herbal medicine: As per WHO, approximately 25 per cent of modern drugs used in the USA are derived from plants. More than 120 active components taken from plants are widely used in modern allopathic system of medicine today of which 80 per cent specify co-relation between modern and traditional therapeutic use. As many as 250,000 species of flowering plants are listed as medicinal plants. In Bangladesh almost 550 plant species have been branded as medicinal plants having therapeutic properties, of which 300 species are now commonly in use in the preparation of traditional medicine.
Users of herbal medicine: The development and mass production of chemically synthesised drugs have modernised health care in most parts of the world over the past 100 years. Conversely, large sections of the population in developing countries still bank on traditional practitioners and herbal medicines for their primary care. According to WHO, people all over the world are now well-conversant with the use of herbal medicine for primary healthcare. Some research indicates that people having little knowledge of the toxic effects of crude herbs, only rely on traditional medicines. It is known that people from the very beginning use the herbal system of medication for treating various types of diseases having or not having the desired effects. Furthermore, the practice is done in innumerable places nowadays by the economically or educationally backward population in the world. This might occur due to their lack of proper knowledge or non-affordability of the modern allopathic system of medication. By the by, with passage of time and with expansion of scientific approach, people's interest in herbal medicine developed resulting in its diversified use and popularity even at the high level of society. People these days use the herbal medicines often to cure the stomach trouble, headache, cough and cold, cuts and injuries, skin diseases like rashes, eye sore, malaria, pox and various other infectious diseases.
Global acceptance and trend: The diversified use of herbal products and their acceptance worldwide made the sector sustainable, fast growing and a promising one. According to World Bank Report 1998, world trade in medicinal plants and related products is expected to rise to the tune of US dollar 5.0 trillion by 2050, as against the estimate for 3.0 trillion US dollars in 2020.
Factors behind the popularity of herbal products:
l Usage of herbal medicine as a dietary supplement is on the gradual increase
l Reliance of advanced countries on natural products for healthcare solution
l There is acceptance of herbal products all over the globe and it's growing
l Herbal products are free from side-effects and comparatively economical
l Introduction of Ayurveda course of education in the Western World
Herbal product industry in Bangladesh: The use of traditional medicine in healthcare is widespread in Bangladesh. In the context of treating diabetes which is in an epidemic form, people are tremendously dependent on herbal medicines in this country. Therefore, a large number of herbal medicinal industries have grown in both organised and unorganised manner with annual consumption of roughly 20,000 tonnes of medicinal plants. According to a report, over 400 industries (including small and middle ones) are manufacturing herbal products countrywide. Currently, Bangladesh has a market of about Tk 3. 0 billion (300 crore) worth of herbal or traditional products per annum.
Government initiative for development of herbal sector:
l An independent and autonomous council styled "Medicinal Plant & Herbal Product Business Promotion Council" has been formed under the Ministry of Commerce. The council works as a public-private partnership entity for export boost-up and general business promotion.
l A board formed under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare works as Bangladesh Board of Unani & Ayurvedic System.
The government has designated herbs and herbal medicines as one of the five priority sectors to diversify and enrich the country's export volumes.
Associations for development of the herbal sector in Bangladesh are:
l Bangladesh Herbal Food & Cosmetics Association (BHFCA)
l Bangladesh Homeopathic Medicine Manufacturers Association (BHMMA)
l Bangladesh Unani Aushadh Shilpa Samity (BUASS)
l Bangladesh Herbal Products Manufacturing Association (BHPMA)
l Bangladesh Ayurvedic Aushadh Shilpa Samity (BAASS)
Herbal drug manufacturers in Bangladesh:
1. Square Herbal and Nutraceuticals Ltd
2. ACME herbal
3. Hamdard Laboratories
4. AB Pharmaceutics
5. Holy Food and Beverage Ltd
6. Sadhana Ayurvedic
7. Shakti Ayurvedic
8. AP Ayurvedic
Environmental impact of medicinal herbs: This is universally accepted that medicinal plants maintain biodiversity and ecological balance apart from their medicinal role. They also --
1. Increase food supply
2. Ensure better climate and ecological balance
3. Supply timber, fuel and fodder
4. Provide birds shelter
5. Afford animal food and better health
6. Check riverbank and soil erosion
7. Protect crops from pest insects
8. Increase micro-organisms in soil
9. Ensure supply of medicine and healthcare
10. Make soil fertile
11. Enhance social forest development
Economic impact of medical herbs:
1. The farming of medicinal plants is a source of employment as well as income in the rural areas especially in Monga (seasonal joblessness)-affected areas in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogra and Sylhet.
2. About 60,000 marginal farmers, most of them female (about 48,000), are earning through cultivating medicinal plants in northern region of the country and thereby poverty has been alleviated to some extent increasing the female labour participation in the rural economic activities.
3. They cultivate the herbs/medicinal plants for local sale and export for earning substantial foreign currencies for the country.
4. The ever increasing demand for medicinal herbs at home and abroad created a robust economic impact on the country's market and outside as well.
5. Women's participation in the cultivation sector of medicinal herbs enhanced group feeling; economic and social power of the womenfolk, especially among the extreme poor.
In Bangladesh, a glorious heritage of herbal medicine system, based on 550 species of rich native plant diversity, is considered as very important component of the people-oriented primary healthcare system. But over the years, although considerable progress has been made in the sector, in absence of safe, effective and quality products, all efforts have failed to attain the desired goal and success in line with the national policy and integrated health system. All concerned should take an uncompromising attitude for imposing strict compliance of quality control in the manufacturing process of effective herbal medicine, with more and more research attempts for life saving medicines and therapeutic drugs. This is indispensable to combat the curse of diseased world as per WHO standard with the state of the art facility. Government should extend more funds and other forms of favourable support for development of this traditional system of medicare.
This article has been compiled based on information gathered from the works & articles of Prof Dr Sitesh C Bachar, Prof Dr Abdul Ghani, The Pharma World (May-June, 2013) & the internet sources
The writer is Lab Instructor, Department of Pharmacy, Primeasia University, Bangladesh. E-mail: kahasanul1983@gmail.com
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