The training was attended by more than 35 traditional healers and manufacturers of traditional medicines from various regions of Tanzania who came with more than 100 plant medicinal products which after training and discussion, each will be tested to determine the quality and advise them on the best ways to produce and package them to meet government and international standards.

She said in order for the Government to approve the medicines for use, they must be sent to the Chief Government Chemist for a number of tests to see the presence of contamination, aflatoxin, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and other chemicals contained in these medicines, and fortunately, all of those tests can be done here at SUA and we will do it through the office of the Chief Government Chemist.

Some of the attendees carefully following the various topics presented

She said if our nation really wants to see the medicines made by traditional healers contribute to the health and the lives of the community, then the issue of quality must be emphasized, and by that they will be able to reach a large market inside and outside Tanzania.

Dr. Mabiki noted that they are aware that the testing at the Chief Government Chemist is costly but the good news is that SUA as education and research institution has the latest and best equipment for such job, also there are students doing research in various postgraduate degrees who use the medicines for their studies, so the doctors who have the medicines get the opportunity of their medicines being tested for free and receive various professional advice to meet the government criteria and standards.

"Through this project, we have been able to forge better relationships between researchers, traditional healers, and the government, because this sector is growing rapidly and contributes significantly to increasing the income of individuals and the country as a whole” stressed Dr. Mabiki.

Commenting on the training, Dr. Mabiki said it was a continuation of what they had been doing in the past, and this came after they conducted research and discovered that many medicines carry contaminants and impurities, but since they started training them and instructing them on how to do their job they eventually started producing products which are clean and suitable for use.

A Lecturer from the Department of Crop Sciences and Horticulture at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dr. Richard Madege presenting his topic

For his part, Flavian Nyakeji, a traditional healer from Njombe, said he was happy to have this unique opportunity to be educated and know how to make quality medicines for consumers.

"SUA has helped us for a long time to improve our products, they want us to reach higher standards, and this is what we need, for example, we who come from Njombe only sell our products in Njombe, when will we sell in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Kenya or Europe? and this was due to the low quality and standard of our products but now we are thankful to God that SUA experts have created a platform of interaction where we are benefiting from the people who have broad scientific knowledge of what we do” Said Mr. Nyakeji.

Nyakeji said he has brought ten different medicines to the training so that he can know what is in his products especially knowing its quality and he is ready to get professional advice on how to improve the medicines so that they can be effective instead of producing without standards, a situation that will deprive their registration and access to the foreign market.

He noted that through the training and professional development, there is already a big change in the production of traditional medicine in the country and he believes that there will be a major revolution in the traditional medicine market in the country and they will be able to sell their products abroad as other countries sell theirs in Tanzania.

                                  
About the VaSPHARD project
Valorization of potentials of Synadenium glaucescens (SG) Phytochemicals for Management of Important Human and Animal diseases (VaSPHARD) project aims at contributing to the National Health and economic development through human, infrastructural and institutional capacity building for enhancing the utilization of natural resources from Synadenium glaucescens (SG). It involves implementation of the project activities extending from phytochemistry studies, bioactivity studies, knowledge enhancement and methods development for screening of phytoproducts. Furthermore, the project aims at building the community of practices in the area of natural products from within and outside the country.

The project is implemented by researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Physics at, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro, Tanzania and The Copenhagen University. This work is supported by the AESA RISE Postdoctoral Fellowship (ARDF) implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).

STORY AND PHOTO CREDITS
Calvin Gwabara - Department of Communication and Marketing, SUA