Ahmed Morsy Ahmed

 *Faculty of Agriculture, Ain shams University, Egypt* 

## **1. Introduction**

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### **1.1 Primary healthcare and traditional medicine**

Primary Health Care (PHC) is the key to the development of a national health policy based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally acceptable to individuals and families in the community and through their full participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford, in order to maintain, at every stage of their development, in the spirit of self-reliance and self determination. It is the first level of contact for the individual, family and the community within the national health care system, bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work and thus constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process (WHO, 1978a). A health system, based on primary health care was adopted as the means of achieving the goal of health for all. Most developing countries of the world, for which the scheme was designed, have failed to seriously implement it up till this moment. Traditional Medicine is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978a) as the sum total of knowledge or practices whether explicable or inexplicable, used in diagnosing, preventing or eliminating a physical, mental or social disease which may rely exclusively on past experience or observations handed down from generation to generation, verbally or in writing. It also comprises therapeutic practices that have been in existence often for hundreds of years before the development of modern scientific medicine and are still in use today without any documented evidence of adverse effects. The explicable form of Traditional Medicine can be described as the simplified, scientific and the direct application of plant, animal or mineral materials for healing purposes and which can be investigated,

### **1.2 Herbal medicine**

rationalized and explained scientifically.

The use of *Salix alba*, the willow plant (containing the salicylates) for fever and pains which led to the discovery of aspirin, would belong to this form of Traditional Medicine. Herbal medicines, which squarely belong to this form, are regarded by the World Health Organization, as finished and labeled medicinal products that contain, as active ingredients, aerial or underground parts of identified and proven plant materials, or combination thereof, whether in crude form or as plant preparations. They also include plant juices, gums, fatty oils, essential oils etc (WHO, 1978a). There are several other official modern drugs today, which were originally developed like aspirin through traditional medicine e.g. morphine, digoxin, quinine, ergometrine, reserpine, atropine, etc and all of which are currently being used by orthodox medicine in modern hospitals all over the world.

The inexplicable form of Traditional Medicine on the other hand, is the spiritual, supernatural, magical, occultic, mystical, or metaphysical form that cannot be easily investigated, rationalized or explained scientifically e.g. the use of incantations for healing purposes or oracular consultation in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The explanation is beyond the ordinary scientific human intelligence or intellectual comprehension. Plants are reputed in the indigenous systems of medicine for the treatment of various diseases (Arise *et al*., 2009). Phyto-chemicals isolated from plant sources are used for the prevention and treatment of several medical problems including diabetes mellitus (Waltner- Law *et al*., 2002). There are more than 800 plant species showing a hypoglycemic activity. The World Health Organization (1980) has also recommended the evaluation of the effectiveness of plants in conditions where safe modern drugs are lacked.
