Herbal Medical Practitioners

Although a majority of the population embraces herbal medical practice in Swaziland, there is no policy nor legal instrument for its practice in the country. There is also no regulatory body for the control of the practice. The Herbal Medical Practitioners have been operating through the King s Order-in-Council of 1954 which enabled them to practice. 

Swaziland is one of the African countries where the overall plant diversity is at the highest level in terms of the number of species present 13). The rich and diverse flora has been greatly exploited in herbal medicine for symptomatic treatment of various ailments. The Herbal Medical Practitioners possess vast indigenous knowledge on almost any type of plant in the flora. Their knowledge on medicinal plants and skill in preparing remedies for various types of diseases is quite commendable. 

Powdered fresh or dried stem bark or seeds is extracted with water by decoction or by maceration Herbal Medical Practitioners... 

The fresh leaves are cut into pieces and aqueous decoction obtained. Used alone or in combination with other herbs by Herbal Medical Practitioners The fresh or dried seeds are ground to coarse powder and extracted with alcoholic beverages by maceration... 

The aqueous decoction of fresh or dried leaves are used traditionally by Herbal Medical Practitioners... 

They have indications exclusively appropriate to traditional herbal medicinal products which, by virtue of their composition and purpose, are intended and designed for use without the supervision of a medical practitioner for diagnostic purposes or for prescription or monitoring of treatment. 

Ten years ago I worked as a consultant to a dozen medical practitioners. Now, I regularly consult with more than 120 physicians. Why In part, it is because I am better known The more important reason is that most physicians know very little about herbal medicine, and their patients, in large numbers, are now taking herbal products. In fact, a recent consumer research survey released in 1998 reported that 42 percent of the people polled used some form of alternative medicine. The survey also noted that 75 percent of the people said they would be likely to use herbal medicine, and 74 percent of those reporting the use of alternative medical said they used it along with conventional health care. Of those people, 61 percent reported that their physicians were aware of these complementary treatments. 

The purple coneflower (Genus Echinacea), indigenous only to North America, was widely used for many medicinal purposes by the American Indians of the Great Plains and subsequently adopted by white settlers. An extract of . angustifolia (narrow-leaved purple coneflower) was made available to medical practitioners by Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists Inc., at the end of the nineteenth century, and became widely used in the USA by eclectic physicians for infectious and inflammatory diseases [5]. With the introduction by the FDA of stricter requirements for testing of drugs, the use of Echinacea declined in the 1930 s, but its use in self-medication has seen a renaissance in recent years. Since 1994, herbal remedies have been defined as dietary supplements in the USA which has allowed manufacturers to make general claims about their efficacy. 

This purpose the present author has thought to achieve by a preliminary survey of the historical background of medical herbalism, followed by an explanation and discussion of the philosophy upon which the herbal practitioner of to-day bases his work. The greater part of the book is devoted to the cyclopaedic dictionary of medicinal and other herbs, with their natural order, botanical and common names and synonyms, their habitats, distinctive features, the parts employed and the therapeutic properties, with uses and dosage. 

Originally, herbal remedies were often infusions of herbs, but nowadays they may also be produced in more concentrated form, as capsules for example. The possibility of overdosage is therefore present. Because many herbal remedies are available for people to buy and administer themselves without the involvement of a licensed practitioner, some of them may increase the dose on the grounds that, if the recommended dose works, an increased dose wiU be even better. Herbal remedies may be prescribed by practitioners who may be medical herbalists, Chinese herbalists, or A)airvedic or Unani practitioners, for example. These practitioners tend to use herbs from Europe, China, or the Indian subcontinent. In the case of the latter two the remedies may contain constituents such as minerals (arsenic, for example) and parts of animals. 

When assessing a patient who wants to begin an herbal supplement, both past medical history as well as concurrent conventional medication used should be taken into account for potential interactions, as discussed before. Patients should be counseled to inform the pharmacist of all medications being taken, both conventional and otherwise. They should be told that herbals may be helpful or harmful and that limited efficacy data are usually available that is done in a controlled, scientific manner. If the pharmacy practitioner feels that the supplement is safe to be taken by the patient, then several counseling points should be stressed to maximize the potential of taking a quality supplement product. Multi-ingredient products should generally be avoided unless the patient is under the care of an herbalist. Labels should list both the common and Latin names, as well as the name and address of the manufacturer. It is likely better to purchase a... 

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