The screening of medicinal plants traditionally used to treat ...

3estimated that 80% of the population in developing countries is unable toafford pharmaceutical drugs and rely on traditional medicines, mainly plantbased, to sustain their primary health care needs. Several studies haveevaluated the effectiveness of some traditional medicines in treating diarrhoeaon all the different continents (Un et al., 2002). The South Africa EssentialDrug Programme has adopted WHO recommendations for the drugs to beused to treat and manage diarrhoea, but still people seek help from traditionalhealers. Assurance of the safety, quality and efficacy of medicinal plants andherbal products has now become a key issue in industrialized and indeveloping countries. Both general consumers and health care professionalsneed up to date, authoritative information on the safety and efficacy ofmedicinal plants (WHO, 2003). The main objectives of the WHO traditionalmedicine activities are to facilitate integration of traditional medicine into thenational health care systems by assisting with policies on traditional medicine,to promote the proper use oftraditional medicine by developing and producinginternational standards, technical guidelines and methodologies and to act asa clearing-house to facilitate information exchange in the field of traditionalmedicine (WHO, 2002 -2005).Traditional medicine is regarded as a very important part of primary healthcare in South Africa and it is also regarded as a holistic healing system. Theindigenous people of South Africa have relied on herbal medicine for allaspects of primary health care. It is estimated that between twelve and fifteenmillion South Africans still use traditional remedies from as many as sevenhundred indigenous plant species (Balick et al., 1994., Campbell, 2007.,Mander et al., 2006., Mander et al., 2007., Mathabe et al., 2006., Meyer andFlayer, 1995 and Rabe and Van Staden, 1997). Traditional healing is widelypracticed in South Africa. It is estimated that 80% of the black population isconsulting with traditional healers (Jager et al., 1996, Eloff, 1998., Fyhrquist etal., 2002). This further raises the need for a scientific evaluation of themethods used by these healers. It is necessary to establish the efficiency andsafety of traditional treatment (Jonathan et a/., 2000). Although many ruralcommunities now have access to mobile clinics and hospitals, there is still, toa large extent, the belief in herbal medicine. Although free health care has