M Tshabalala-Msimang: International Workshop on Traditional
Medicine

9 June 2006

Chairperson
Distinguished delegates and participants
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour and privilege to welcome you to this momentous occasion
which marks an important epoch in the history of traditional medicine in this
country. I would like to welcome all our guests from other countries in the
African region and abroad. Thank you for taking time to share your expertise
and experience with us over these two days.

I would like to also thank the media for the interest they have shown on
this subject. I hope we will continue to work together in this process of
affording appropriate recognition to African traditional medicine in our
country.

Today, we chart the way forward on the institutionalisation of traditional
medicine as an important element of our national healthcare system.

You will recall that we had the first conference of traditional health
practitioners in 2004. One of the recommendations of this conference was that
the Department of Health should establish a focal point on African Traditional
Medicine.

I am glad to report to you that indeed we have delivered on this matter. A
Directorate on traditional medicine has been established within the Department
of Health. The Directorate will develop and implement policy on traditional
medicine and coordinate the activities of the National Reference Centre for
African Traditional Medicine.

The outcome of our deliberations here today and tomorrow will be very
important in guiding this directorate on the way forward in terms of
institutionalisation of traditional medicine.

We will also be drawing lessons from the experiences of other countries who
have taken measures in regulating and institutionalising traditional medicine.
That is why we have invited experts from at least nine countries, which are
China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.

The issue of reviewing the current health approach and understanding to take
into consideration indigenous knowledge has not been limited only to developing
countries. The World Health Assembly held in Geneva last month received a very
strong address from Prince Charles of the British Royal Family.

He said and I quote:
“We should not view poor health as something that exists in isolation, but
which forms as a direct consequence of our communities, our cultures, our
lifestyles and the way we interact with our environments. The state of our
health reflects the food we eat, the exercise we take, the water we drink, the
air we breathe and the quality of our housing and sanitation. I believe it also
extends to our social needs and circumstances the need to belong to a
community, the need for meaningful work and daily purpose.”

He goes on to argue for better recognition of alternative medicine and the
need to ensure that the world benefits from the orthodox and complementary
medical practices.

“It is tragic,” he said, “that in the ceaseless rush to ’modernise’, many
beneficial approaches, which have been tried and tested and have shown
themselves to be effective, have been cast aside because they are deemed to be
’old-fashioned‘ or ’irrelevant‘ to today’s needs.” Unquote.

Today we are gathered here to acknowledge the local traditional medicine
knowledge. We also have to look at mechanisms of translating the regional
strategy on traditional medicine adopted by the World Health Organisation
Africa Regional Committee meeting in 2000 into a realistic national policy.

We have to work on the enactment of appropriate legislation and develop
national strategy for institutionalising traditional medicine. We have to
develop active collaboration with all parties in the implementation and
evaluation of the national strategy.

We gather at a time when our continent is grappling with a triple burden of
disease. There is high burden of communicable diseases such as HIV and AIDS,
tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

We are also faced with rising cases of non-communicable diseases such as
diabetes, various forms of cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. There are also
many cases of trauma and violence.

Understanding the weaknesses of our health systems, it is important to pool
and consolidate the resource available to respond to this complex burden of
disease. This includes tapping the rich resources of traditional medicine
knowledge in dealing particular with communicable and non-communicable
diseases.

Understanding that we are Africans with a particularly history dating back
several centuries, we need to pay attention to those things that sustained the
health of Africans throughout our history of denied access to health and other
basic services.

We need to invest resources and efforts into the research and development of
African traditional medicine which was suppressed through several years of
colonialism and apartheid.

No one will do this work for us. No one can reclaim our dignity on our
behalf. There is a great deal of literature on Indian or Chinese traditional
medicine. We need to establish those things within African traditional medicine
that add value to management of diseases and improvement of health.

There are many health challenges before us. We need to be broadminded in our
approach and diversify our interventions. Our success in the research and
development of African traditional medicine will probably be the best
contribution, the health sector can make to the African Renaissance, particular
during this decade which was declared by our Heads of States as a Decade of
African Traditional Medicine.

The immediate challenge is to combine our rich knowledge in traditional
medicine from traditional health practitioners, research institutions and other
role players and harness our efforts towards a common set of priorities.

This should include:
* intensifying a research result that supports the production of safe,
efficacious and quality traditional medicines
* developing models and strategy to successfully include traditional medicine
in the health systems
* Development of an intellectual property regime that deal with the unique
situation of protection of traditional medicine knowledge

It is clear that the potential of traditional medicines cannot be
effectively harnessed without the concurrent recognition of traditional health
practitioners and their communities who are the actual custodians of the
indigenous knowledge. We cannot ignore their immense contribution in the
primary health care over centuries. The status and profile of traditional
health practitioners has to be raised and strengthened for the benefit of
all.

We will therefore be speeding up the processes towards the establishment of
the interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council which is provided for
under the Traditional Health Practitioners Act. The Council should guide us in
regulating the traditional medicine practices including setting appropriate
competency levels and defining acceptable practices in this section of the
health sector.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate our commitment and determination to
mobilise resources to ensure that traditional medicine and the practice thereof
enjoy, for the first time in the history of South Africa, the full recognition
and support it deserves.

I wish you-all fruitful deliberations and engagement over these two days. I
am sure that resolutions emanating from this important workshop will add much
value in our endeavour to formalise the role of traditional medicine and
practice in improving the health of South African population.

Thank you!

Issued by: Department of Health
9 June 2006