SANBio holds a workshop on The Scientific Validation of Traditional Medicines for Affordable Treatments for HIV/AIDS and Opportunistic Infections

26 March 2007

On 15 and 16 March, 2007, SANBio organised a Planning Workshop on "The Scientific Validation of Traditional Medicines for Affordable treatments for HIV/AIDS and Opportunistic Infections" in Lusaka, Zambia. Short for Southern African Network for Biosciences, SANBio is an intergovernmental organisation and flagship programme which falls under the NEPAD/African Biosciences Initiative. SANBio's main objective is to build and strengthen capacity in biosciences through networking, promotion of scientific excellence and harnessing of indigenous knowledge for sustainable utilization of natural resources and wealth creation of the people of Southern Africa. The Lusaka workshop brought together more than 40 participants from a broad range of stakeholders and perspectives from, including representatives of governments, traditional and conventional doors, universities and research institutes from nine out of twelve SANBio countries: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Seychelles, Republic of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Although SANBio has other projects underway, for example, the documentation of indigenous household food security strategies in arid and semi-arid areas of the southern African region, the theme for the Lusaka workshop was the scientific validation of affordable remedies for the treatment of opportunistic infections for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The objectives of the workshop were as follows:

• determine the scope of technology platform or policy required to scientifically validate claims of treatment for HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections
• identify and select most suitable research institutions per country
• decide on operating project principles such as financial controls and disbursements
• determine which opportunistic infections to focus on
• understand and develop guidelines for protection of Intellectual Property Rights and safeguarding rights of holders of indigenous knowledge
• establish selection criteria to prioritise biodiversity species for research, including interactions with holders of indigenous knowledge and the review of data that may exist or is being generated through clinical observations on patients voluntarily getting treatment from traditional healers for treatment of HIV and opportunistic infections.

Gracing this important workshop was the Zambian Minister of Science Technology and Vocational Training, Dr. Brigadier General Brian Chituwo, MP. In his official opening remarks, the Minister said that more people were now seeking the services of traditional doctors for their health needs than ever before, particularly with the advent of HIV/AIDS. Dr Chituwo observed that it was for this reason that traditional medicines and remedies should not be looked down upon and dismissed out hand. He therefore expressed the need for synergy and collaboration between traditional doctors, conventional doctors trained in modern science and scientists in the validation of traditional medicines. In addition, the Minister said that in order to achieve adherence to professional ethics, protect Intellectual Property Rights and avoid mistrust between traditional practitioners and other stakeholders, there was need to introduce legislation. Other dignitaries' at the workshop included the Permanent Secretary in the same Ministry, Dr. Paul Zambezi, the Board Chairman for the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Mwenda, the Chairman for the SANBio Steering Committee Professor Osmund Mwandemele, the executive Director of the CSIR-Biosciences, Dr. Gatsha Mazithulela and the NEPAD/ African Biosciences Initiative Coordinator, Prof Aggrey Ambali.

The keynote papers presented at the workshop focussed on a range of areas including biodiversity and bioprospecting, opportunistic infections, indigenous knowledge systems, existing country capacities in traditional medicines and intellectual property protection. There were also interactive sessions in which participants engaged in group discussions on the objectives of the workshop. Among other things, the following outcomes were noted:

• that some expertise existed in the region but was not coordinated
• national agendas were not clear
• in most countries capacity and infrastructure was limited
• need to come up with a legal framework for the region
• need to build human resource capacity
• A project plan of action and budget for establishing a regional framework for collaboration in traditional medicine was drawn
• An indicative inventory of regional capacity in research on traditional medicine and HIV/AIDS was compiled

These outcomes and many more which will soon appear in the proceedings are pointers to the fact that the workshop was a success.

The workshop was followed by a SANBio Steering Committee meeting on the 17th March at which several policy and operational issues around SANBio were thrashed out, including an application for a SANBio node on Bioinformatics in Zimbabwe. The application was accepted in principle subject to Zimbabwe providing a written submission. This brings the total number of SANBio nodes to three . The others are the Fisheries node in Malawi and the Mushroom farming node in Namibia.