**5.1. Accessibility and affordability**

The documentation of medicinal plants of numerous cultures is extensive, these plants have been used in treating various diseases even without the knowledge of their constituents and accurate functions [31]. The high practice of herbal medicine is due to cultural acceptability, as plant remedies have been around for centuries [32]. In countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda the ratio of herbal medicine practitioners to the population was found to be 1:200–1:400. However, the ratio of western medicine practitioners is 1:20,000 or less [33]. A survey conducted in 1991 revealed that traditional practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa out number western practitioners by 100 to 1 [34]. Herbal medicine has remained affordable in comparison to high cost western medicine [35]. In over populated countries such as India, the rural population has almost no access to modern medicine, therefore, they are compelled to rely on herbal medicine for their basic healthcare needs [36].
