Dr Kofi Busia
The prevention and treatment of diseases with herbal medicine in African although widespread is seldom documented.
It was against this background that Dr Kofi Busia, Programme Officer for Primary Healthcare (PHC) at the West African Health Organisation (WHO), penned down years of herbal medicine practice in his newly outdoored book.
The ‘Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine’ is a science-based guide for understanding the use of herbal medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases.
The book, published in two volumes, comes after 12 years of painstaking gathering, assembling and presentation of the spectrum of the science of herbal medicine (phytotherapy).
Dr Victor Kwame Agyemang, Director General Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), remarking as the chairperson for the occasion, observed the importance of having such books in academia.
He expressed his appreciation to Dr Busia for his dedication in expanding the frontiers of traditional herbal medicine practice.
Dr Joseph Adusei Sarkodie, Head of Pharmacology Department of University of Ghana, in his review of the book stated that the volume one begins with a historic overview of some indigenous medical system, followed by a brief outline of the basic concepts of ethnopharmacology, with some examples of medicinal plants which have yielded or have the potential to yield essential medicines.
“Although this book is not intended to be a clinical textbook, part three of volume one focuses on basic clinical science and the phytotherapeutic of a range of disease conditions commonly presented to herbalist such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, allergic rhinitis, asthma, digestive disorders, menstrual disorders and problems,” he said.
Dr Adusei Sarkodie mentioned that the volume two of the book focuses on the characteristics of the major plant families, basic analytical techniques used in plant medicine research and material media of over 160 medical plants.
“In short, the book demonstrates the surplus intellectual nature of herbalism and will appeal to traditional medicine practitioners, pharmacists, doctors, nurses, plant medicine research scientist, botanists, taxonomists, pharmacognocists and the lay public,” he added.
Dr Busia used the occasion to show appreciation to all who had supported him in his career journey.
“Through my training and work, I have benefitted hugely from the tutelage of some of the finest minds on this planet and have, thus, had the opportunity to educate students, through teaching and research and to heal the sick, counsel a vast range of people about life’s many challenges and how to seize the opportunities our maker can throw at us,” Dr Busia disclosed.
He also encouraged others to contribute to traditional herbal medicine by taking up personal tasks in academia.
The first copies were bought by Dr Agyemang for GH¢2,000, with the other copies going for various sums of monies.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri