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Africa
Should Combat COVID-19 with Its Indigenous
Knowledge Medicine
Ghelawdewos
Araia, PhD
May 25, 2020
This
article is dedicated to Africa Day, the 57th
Anniversary of the establishment of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU – now AU)
The
Institute of Development and Education for Africa
(IDEA) has been compiling data and gathering
information in regards to the nature and
characteristics of COVID-19, since the outbreak of
the deadly corona virus at Wuhan, China in
December 2019. Then, the world was not alerted
with the consequences of the virus, but it soon
engulfed our planet earth and became a global
pandemic.
What
is COVID-19? How did it come into being? It is a
naturally occurring virus or as some conspiracy
theorists suggest a man-made virus that apparently
escaped from the laboratories or deliberately
spread in crowded places in order to infect
people?
Whatever
the cause and origins of COVID-19, IDEA is
interested in primarily understanding the nature
and behavior of this pandemic corona virus, and
then would like to recommend indigenous knowledge
medicine for Africa, and not vaccine given the
uncertainties and negative implications of the
latter. In the context of indigenous knowledge
systems (IKS) and abundant herbal medicine in
Africa, thus, IDEA’s investigative discourse
entertains various research-based scholarly
perspective on COVID-19 and concludes with
recommendations that could enable the African
continent to counter, combat, and overcome
corona-related massive deaths by massively using
herbal medicine.
IDEA’s
recommendation of the employment of traditional
pharmacology, however, should not mean to
completely abandon Western or non-Western modern
medicines and prescriptions, but only to suggest
that at this point in time, Africa would be better
off to extensively use its pharmacopeia, which has
a healing potential and power for the most part
and with rare side effects. In light of this
clarification, thus, we at IDEA would like to tell
our African audience that there is a wealth of
information in health-related disciplines such as
Pathology and Cell Biology; Biochemistry and
Molecular Bio-Physics; Microbiology and
Immunology.
But
first, for the sake of clarity, it is important to
define indigenous knowledge. Back in 2003, my
academic scholar colleagues and I contributed
chapters for a book entitled Globalizing
Africa, edited by Malinda Smith and published
by Africa World Press. In that book, one of the
contributors, Catherine A. Adora Hoppers, defined
indigenous knowledge as follows:
The
scope of these knowledge [the IKS], are rich and
varied, ranging from soil and plant taxonomy,
cultural and genetic information, animal
husbandry, medicine and pharmacology, ecology,
climatology, zoology, music, arts, architecture,
and many others. The intrinsic efficiency and
efficacy as tools for personal, societal, and
global development must, therefore, be identified
and accredited as necessary. It is this recovery
of indigenous knowledge, and the system
intricately woven around them, that will
facilitate the move towards a critical but
resolute re-appropriation of the practical and
cognitive heritage of millions of people across
the African continent and elsewhere in the world.
It is, in turn, the re-appropriation of this
heritage that may provide new clues and directions
as to the visions of human society, human
relations, sustainable development, poverty
reduction, and scientific development in the next
millennium, all of which cannot be resolved using
the existing ethos of the Western framework alone.
Our
interest in the above quoted source is ‘plant
taxonomy’ (more specifically herbal taxonomy),
medicine and pharmacology. I will present some
traditional African herbal medicine and their use
for particular ailments and diseases in the middle
of this article, and before I delve into those
medicines on behalf of IDEA, I will first present
the richness of ancient Egyptian and Ancient
Ethiopian medicine and then proceed to the various
perspectives on COVID-19.
Ancient
Egyptian and Ancient Ethiopian Medicines
Africa
should be very proud of the advanced medicines
that she have had in both ancient Egypt and
ancient Ethiopia, two African great civilizations;
the medical knowledge and pharmacology in both
these two civilizations was unparalleled in world
history, but unfortunately modern Africa could
neither appreciate nor implement the ancient
medical knowledge that was indigenous to the
continent. I have taught my students at Lehman
College, City University of New York about
Egyptian and Ethiopian medicines in Ancient
Egypt and African
Civilizations, and I will present here at
least a portion of the lecture series on medicine.
Ancient
Egypt was hub of civilization and center of
education for northern Africa, the Mediterranean,
the Aegean including the Greek Archipelago, and
western Asia (present-day Middle East). Famous
Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Plato,
Eudoxsos etc were educated in Egypt, and Greek
doctors such Melampus, Asclepius, and Hippocrates
were also trained in Egypt.
We
have ample documentary and archeological evidences
on advanced Egyptian medicine, now compiled as
Edwin Smith, Elbers, and Berlin papyri. The Edwin
Smith, for instance, documents the Middle Kingdom
(1980-1630 BCE) Egyptian medical knowledge and
practice such as medical examinations of patients
followed by diagnosis and prognosis; and the
diseases were classified as curable, treatable,
and untreatable. The Elbers and Berlin papyri
recorded Egyptian anatomy, the vital organs and
their locations and functions; Egyptian specialty
in gynecology and obstetrics was also documented.
The
most fascinating part of Egyptian medicine,
however, was the extensive use of herbal and
mineral medicine, and here are some of them: honey
was widely used for preservation and healing
wounds and the Egyptians were aware of the
bactericide quality of honey and they even used it
in their mummification process; wax, urine, fresh
meat were also used to heal wounds; garlic for
Asthmatic and was given to those who suffered from
bronchial-pulmonary complications; a combination
of garlic and olive oil or garlic and vinegar were
also used for gargle and rinsing the mouth (I
would not mind recommending this for COVID-19
patients at early stage of the disease); powdered
cumin; Tannic acid derived from acacia seeds were
used for cooling the vessels and healing burns;
cannabis; myrrh; frankincense for psychotic
disorders and preservation of the dead body
(mummification); Fennel (anti-oxidant,
anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacteria) was used for
many inflammatory ailments; cassia (cinnamon) were
prescribed relieving
dates for skin disease and constipation; Sesame
(soothes asthma); tamarind, a tropical and
antioxidant edible fruit that mostly used for
liver infections; yeast and Henna for protecting
the hair; Natron (naturally occurring salt) and
Mummy etc for preservation. Mummy was used
virtually for all kinds of ailments and diseases.
Ethiopian
medicine in many ways is very similar to ancient
Egyptian medicine except that the Egyptian is well
documented and that of Ethiopia is yet to be
discovered and become a public knowledge.
Otherwise, Ethiopia’s rich medical knowledge and
practice is also documented in an ancient Brannna
book (folios made out of processed goat skin)
entitled Metshafe Fews (መፅሐፈ
ፈውስ Geez,
literally ‘The Book of Medicine or Book of
Healing). Hundreds upon hundreds of copies
of the Book of Medicine were duplicated for
centuries and catalogued in the “libraries” of
the monasteries and churches; some of them are
stolen and are in libraries in Europe and North
America.
One
important book on Ethiopian traditional medicine
in Amharic, authored by Fekadu Fullas entitled የኢትዮጵያ
ባህል
መድኃኒት
በሳይንሳዊ
አቀራረብ᎓
የመድኃኒት
ዕፀዋት or Ethiopian
Traditional Medicine in Scientific Perspective was
published in 2002 and reviewed by IDEA. Please use
the following link to read the review: www.africanidea.org/EthiopianTraditional_medicine.pdf.This
book presents the names, purposes, and results of
the various herbal and mineral medicines, and it
also offers the names in Amharic, Tigrigna, and
Oromo languages. Here, however, we will include a
glimpse of the book’s recommended medicinal
drugs. Some of them are the following:
Kechemo: it is anti-fever drug;
its seeds are immersed in water for one day,
and the patient drinks it on the following day
Kokoba: has anti-cancer properties but are mostly used by physically
weak people to gain some potency; it is also used
for fever; for all of the above, it is the leaves
of Kokoba that
are used.
Bahir Zaf (Eucalyptus):
Its leaves are boiled in hot water and patient
covers his/her face with some cloth and inhales
the steam evaporating from the Eucalyptus; it is
very much like sauna and is extensively used in
Ethiopia for relieving the common cold
Garlic is crushed and added to mead, meat, yoghurt, butter, or milk;
2-3 table spoons and 1-10 a day is taken as soup
for cough, wound, yellow fever, TB, psychotic
disorder, high blood pressure, and liver disease.
Etuch (aka Government Herb): the roots and leaves of this plant are
used for relieving and healing stomach ache,
diabetes, diarrhea, stomach parasites, respiratory
tube problems, and throat sore.
Ginger: is used for fever and influenza by taking the bits through
the mouth; for stomach ache, its stem is chewed;
and for common cold (cough and running nose), the
crushed bits are added to tea and is drunk by the
patient.
Similar
to Fekadu Fullas, Alevtina Gall and Zerihun
Shenkute also came up with “Ethiopian
Traditional Medication and their Interaction with
Conventional Drugs,” and their work was reviewed
by David Kiefer and J. Carey Jackson, and
published in 2009
Black Mustard: Senafitch in Amharic (A) and Tigrigna (T) and Senafitcha
in Oromo (T) used for stomach ache, constipation,
bloating, amoebic dysentery
Black Seed: Tikur Azmud (A), Awoseta (T) and Gura (O)
used for headache, stomachache, and abortifacient
Cinnamon: Qarafa (A), Qerefa (T),
and Carafu (O)
used as culinary and for cold symptoms
Fenugreek: Abish (A), Abaeke (T,
my own input)
Halbata (O): Its powder is used for wound
dressing
Flaxseed and flaxseed oil: Telba (A), Lina/Enta’tie (T), Konfur (O):
Its benefits are multipurpose including culinary
and for healing stomachaches and constipation; it
also enhances heart health, reduces inflammation,
and combats early cancerous cells.
Garlic: Nech Shinkurt (A), Tsaeda Shigurti (T), Qullabbiladi
(O) is extensively used (as we have seen
above) for cough, pulmonary disease, hypertension,
wounds, STDs, asthma, parasitic infections,
toothache, diabetes, and hemorrhoids
Ginger: Zingibl (A & T) used for stomachache, cough, fever, and
influenza
Admasu
Moges and Yohannes Moges tell us that “medicinal
plants are vital in their use for medication,
besides providing ecological, economic, and
cultural services. The world primary means of
treating diseases and fighting infections have
been based on the use of medicinal plants. From
ancient times, plants have been sources of
effective and safe medicines. Globally, about 64%
of the total world population is reliant on
traditional medicine for their healthcare needs.
The title of their work is Ethiopian
Common Medicinal Plants: Their Parts and Uses in
Traditional Medicine – Ecology and Quality
Control.
The
richness of Ethiopian plant medicine discussed by
Admasu and Yohannes, is supplanted and reinforced
by Endashaw Bekele in his piece entitled Study on Actual Situation of Medicinal Plants in Ethiopia (December 2007). Endashaw states, “Ethiopia is
believed to be home for about 6,500 species of
higher plants with approximately 12% endemism, and
hence one of six plants biodiversity countries of
the world (UNEP, 1975). The diversity is also
considerable in the lower plants but exact
estimate of these have to be made. The genetic
diversity contained in the various biotic make up
is also high, thus making the country a critical
diversity hot spot for plants.”
There
is no doubt that the biodiversity of Ethiopia is
replicated in many other African countries and a
significant number of African communities are
engaged in the use of herbal medicine for various
ailments and diseases. Ezekwesili –Ofili
Josephine, Ozioma and Okaka Antoinette, and
Nwamaka Chinube have also contributed a very
interesting study entitled Herbal
Medicines in African Traditional Medicine (January
30, 2019). The authors argue that “Herbal
medicine is the cornerstone of traditional
medicine but may include minerals and animal
parts…through scientific investigations, these
is a better understanding of its therapeutic
activities such that many pharmaceuticals have
been modeled on phytochemicals derived from it.
They
further discuss the various names for the
traditional medical practitioners (TMP) with
different names across the board in the Continent:
Sangoma or Inyanga in South Africa; Akomfo,
Bokomwo in Ghana; Niam-Niam, Shaman, or Mugwanu in
Tanzania; Nga-Nga in Zambia; and Shaman or Laiban
in Kenya; Babalawo, Dibia, or Boka etc in Nigeria.
Ezekwesili
et al also enumerate various sources of medicinal
herbs and plants:
Roots: fleshy or woody
Rhizomes: woody or fleshy underground stem that grows horizontally
and brings out their leaves above the ground; e.g.
Zingeber officinale (ginger); imperata cylindrical
(spear grass) for potency in men and curcuma longa
(turmeric) an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and
anti-cancer drug.
Tuber: e.g. potatoes and yams such as Dioscorea dumetorium (ona –
(igbo)) for diabetes and Gloriose Superba for
cancer
Bark: outer protective layer of the tree stem or trunk. It contains
highly concentrated phytochemicals with profound
properties.
Leaves, Stems, and Flowers, Fruits and seeds also contain highly
active phytochemicals and essential oils
Gums, Exudates, and Nectars: secretes to deter insects and other
grazing animals, and to seal off wounds
On
top of the above medicinal plants and herbs, it is
important to touch upon the preparation and dosage
of the medicines, as the authors discuss and
explain in some detail:
Methods of
preparation and Dosage:
Extraction: Prepared with solvent on a weight by volume basis
Infusions: Prepared by macerating the crude drug for a short period
of time in cold or hot water and preservative such
as honey may be added to prevent spoilage
Decoctions:
are
made by boiling woody pieces for a specified
period of time and filtered. Potash may be added
to aid extraction and as preservative.
Tinctures: are alcoholic infusions, which if concentrated may be
diluted before administration.
Ashing: the dried parts are incinerated to ash, and then sieved and
added as such to water and food.
Miscellaneous: Liniments
(for external application in liquid or semi-liquid
substances); lotions (for skin application);
snuffs (powdered dried plant inhaled through the
nostrils). Dried plants may be burnt and their
charcoal is used as such; gruels are
cereals/porridges made from grains to which dried
powdered plants or its ash is added to be taken
orally.
With
the above mentioned wealth of African pharmacopeia,
there is no doubt that can successfully combat to
contain and defeat COVID-19, but the government
policies and practices in the struggle against the
novel corona virus should be based on knowledge.
At this juncture in African history, African
scientists, health professionals, and government
leaders should seriously consider the
implementation of herbal medicine but they must
first have a profound clarity on the nature and
characteristics of COVID-19.
Benjamin
Neumann, a professor of Biology at the Texas A
& M University argues, “COVID-19 is caused
by a corona virus called SARS-Cov-2. Corona virus
belongs to a group of viruses that infect animals,
from peacocks to whales. Plays in two ways: as an
infection in the lungs or an infection in the gut
that causes diarrhea. SARS-Cov-2 has a totally
different set of genes called accessories, which
give this new virus a little advantage in specific
situations. For instance, MERS has a particular
protein that shut down a cell’s ability to sound
the alarm about a viral intruder. One way that
cells try to respond to infection is by making
interferon, the alarm signaling protein.
SARS-Cov-2 blocks this by a combination of
camouflage, sniffing off protein markers from the
cell that serve as distress beacons and finally
shredding any anti-viral instructions that the
cell makes before they can be used.
SARS-Cov-2
spreads from person to person by close contact.
The Shincheonji Church outbreak in South Korea in
Fberuary provides a good demonstration of how and
how quickly SARS-Cov-2 spreads.
…the
illness caused by the new corona virus, is caused
by the immune system carrying out a scorched earth
defense to stop the virus from spreading. Millions
of the cells from the immune system invade the
infected lung tissue and cause massive amount of
damage in the process of cleaning out the virus
and any infected cells.
When
the virus gets first, blood pressure is not
regulated; this is one reason COVID-19 is more
severe in people with high blood pressure.
At
present the transmission rate of SARS-Cov-2 is a
little higher than that of the pandemic 2009 H1N1
influenza virus, but SARS-Cov-2 is at least 10
times deadly.
From
the data that is available now, COVID-19 seems a
lot like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS),
though it is less likely that SARS to be severe.
Another
unknown is how COVID-19 will respond to changes in
the seasons. The flue tends to follow cold
weather, both in the northern and southern
hemispheres.”
Simon
Anthony is a Columbia University epidemiologist
and expert on “how viruses move between
species.” He says, “that humans pick up these
infections in myriad ways: by eating the flesh of
wild animals, also called bush meat; by eating
fruits and vegetables that have been nibbled on by
infected rodents, bats, or birds; by drinking
water contaminated by infected animals’ urine or
feces. Raising livestock close forests is also a
major risk, he says, since domestic animals can
catch infection from wild ones and later infect
their owners.”
Furthermore,
the Columbia University scientists underscore that
“in the war between man and microbes, is seems,
the germs are making a comeback” and “the
numbers tell a sobering story: between 1960 and
2004 alone, 335 new infections diseases emerged,
the vast majority caused by viruses or bacteria
that spread from animals to people.”
However,
unlike Simon Anthony and other Columbia University
scientists, Ya Rong Guo et al, writing in
springer.com (Military Medical Research) argue
that “the exact source of this virus is unknown
because rarely animal corona virus can infect
people.” in other words, these writers argue,
“the complete picture of COVID-19 is not fully
known.” In regards to the nature of COVID-19,
however, Ya-Rong Guo et al present the same
analysis like Benjamin Neumann.
Before
I move on into how Africa can effectively combat
COVID-19, I will address first some conspiracy
theories by some professionals and how the major
media in the US and the United Nations responded.
In this regard, one of the most controversial
conspiracy theorists is Dr. Judy Mikovits, who in
her interview with the California filmmaker Mikki
Willis said,” wealthy people are intentionally
spreading the novel corona virus to increase
vaccination rates in the population at large and
wearing a mask can actually worsen viral
symptoms.”
There
are other plethora conspiracy theorists (including
the “5-G creating corona virus” group), but as
a scholar myself, I have a duty and responsibility
to submit to my readers and IDEA subscribers
verified, validated, and factual data only.
Whether the mainstream media and/or world
organizations sincerely share our concern or it is
simply counter-attacking the speculators is
subject to debate; but we don’t mind presenting
their response to the conspiracy theorist groups.
For
instance, on April 9, 2020, CNN reported:
“Unfounded claims about a supposed link between
5G and COVID-19 began circulating on the fringes
of the internet, where New Ageros ad Q Anon
followers perpetuated hoax that global elites were
using 5G to spread the virus. Unsophisticated
algorithms amplified those voices and ushered
unsubstantiated theories into the mainstream.
There is no evidence to support the theory that 5G
networks cause COVID-19 or contribute to its
spread. But still, it refuses to die.”
In
a similar vein, on April 22, 2020, UN News
reported: “COVID-19: 5G broadband conspiracy
‘a hoax with no technical support’, UN Telecom
Agency: “The scale of the problem promoted the
World Health Organization (WHO), the UN agency
which is leading the responses to its COVID-19
myth busters article, which notes that “viruses
cannot travel on radio waves mobile networks.
COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do
not have 5G mobile networks. In a statement
published in February, the WHO notes that, “to
date, after much research performed, no adverse
health effect has been causally linked with
exposure to wireless technologies,” and
“provided that the overall exposure remains
below international guidelines, no consequences
for public health are anticipated.”
What is to be done now? What can Africa do to fight the novel corona
virus’ when its “complete clinical picture is
unknown”? And to be sure, the world is gripped
with non-pharmaceutical interventions and options
of social distancing and hand hygiene only;
additionally, vaccines and treatments for COVID-19
have yet to be developed. Therefore the best
response strategy for Africa is to trust its
instinct; Africa’s instinct is embedded in its
traditional herbal medicine.
One
promising initiative could be Madagascar’s
“herbal remedy cure” that the president of the
country Andry Rajoelina launched, but its
effectiveness has yet to be determined, and with
Africa’s huge potential in herbal medicine, it
is highly probable that the cure for COVID-19 will
be found and patented in the continent.
Bibliography
1.
Catherine A. Adora Hoppers,
“Indigenous Knowledge, the African Renaissance,
and the Integration of Knowledge Systems,” in
Malinda smith, GLOBALIZING
AFRICA, Africa World Press, 2003
2.
My lecture notes on Ancient Egyptian and
Ancient Ethiopian Medicine
3.
Fekadu Fullas, Ethiopian Traditional Medicine in Scientific Perspective, 2002
4.
Alevtina Gall and Zerihun Shenkute,
“Ethiopian Traditional Medication and their
Interaction with Conventional Drugs,” 2009
5.
Admasu Moges and Yohannes Moges,
“Ethiopian Common Medicinal Plants, Their parts
and uses in Traditional Medicine – Ecology and
Quality Control”
6.
Edashaw Bekele, “Study on Actual
Situation of Medieval Plants in Ethiopia,”
December 2007
7.
Ezekwesili – Ofili Josephine et al,
“Herbal Medicines in Africa’s Traditional
Medicine,” January, 2019
8.
Benjamin Neumann, Professor of Biology,
Texas A & M University, ‘On the Causes of
COVID-19’
9.
Simon Anthony, “The Virus that Changed
the World, Columbia,
Columbia University Magazine, Spring/Summer, 2020
10.
Ya Rong Guo et al, www.springer.com
11.
CNN News, April 9, 2020
12.
UN News, April 22, 2020
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