A paper presented by Keith Lindsey at the Africa Herbal Antimalaria Meeting, 20-22 March 2006 in Nairobi

The anamed approach in general

1.     anamed stands for ”Action for Natural Medicine”. We define ”Natural Medicine” as being the combination of the best of modern medicine with the best of traditional medicine. It is natural also in the sense that, as far as ever possible, we use natural products. Traditional healers know a lot about plants. Doctors and nurses are very hygiene conscious, use carefully formulated preparations, label their medicines carefully and administer accurate dosages. All have something important to contribute.

2.     We produce very practical handbooks. In almost every country one can find books of healing plants, with a botanical description and a list of the complaints for which they can be used. Very seldom, however, does one find a publication which also describes in detail how to prepare medicines from those plants, and in what dosages those medicines should be administered. Anamed publications are based on the  information that we have gained from people in the villages of Africa. It has been substantiated by scientific research published in the literature, and the best pharmacological experience has been used in developing the medicine recipes. This information is in our books, it is therefore in the public domain, and available to the people of Africa.

3.     We conduct week-long training seminars in Natural Medicine. These seminars are conducted by Hans-Martin Hirt and myself from Europe, and by many African facilitators whom we have trained.

a)     We go to where the people are. Rather than inviting people to travel to the capital city, which grass-roots people are unlikely to do, we travel to the remotest regions. For example, I am myself on the way to conduct seminars in the extreme north-east of Congo. My colleague and founder of anamed, Hans-Martin Hirt, is just back from conducting a seminar in the mountains of Angola.

b)     We work with both traditional healers and nurses and doctors, together in the same group. Even the WHO encourages traditional healers and members of the formal medicine sector to work together. Often there is initially a lot of mistrust, but after living and working together for a week, these barriers begin to break down and cooperation begins.

c)      We build upon traditional skills. Most people have some knowledge of herbal remedies. We affirm people for the knowledge and skills that they already have, and develop that knowledge further. It is both rewarding and exciting to see people holding their heads up high, because their knowledge and skills are being valued, and to see the pride in their eyes as they develop their skills further.

d)     Natural Medicine looks at the causes of ill-health as well as the health problems themselves. Clean water, a balanced diet, good clean toilets, hygiene, waste disposal and, of course, education, are all very important. We Europeans should be ashamed of the trash, manufactured in Europe and North America, that is on the market in Africa. There are many examples, highly toxic mercury soaps, purported to lighten the skin but in fact poison the entire body, vitamin drinks when there is a wealth of fruit, baby milk powder which is promoted over breast feeding, not to mention cigarettes.

e)     We tackle some of the most serious problems. Diarrhoea for example causes the death of literally millions of children every year. With herbal teas, using very widely available medicinal plants, the vast majority of these lives can be saved - if only the hospitals, clinics, healers and families themselves knew the plants and the treatments.

f)       We enable people to treat themselves even when they have little or no money, and even where there are absolutely no pharmaceuticals that are available or affordable. The gap between rich and poor is growing world-wide, and also tragically in Africa. After civil war, people have absolutely nothing. This in refugee camps, camps for displaced people, and in areas ravished by war, Natural Medicine is often the only option open to people.

g)     The development of Natural Medicine leads also to economic self-reliance. As gardens of medicinal plants are established, and plant parts are dried and packaged, or are then made into ointments or tinctures,, a local trade in healthy foods and Natural Medicines begins. Jobs are created, and money remains in the community instead of leeching out.

The anamed approach to malaria in particular

In our seminars,

1.     We teach how malaria is transmitted. A group of traditional healers once responded to this input by saying, “now we are all becoming scientists!”

2.     We teach how mosquitoes can be repelled and how one can protect oneself against bites. That means minimising the number of possible breeding sites, growing aromatic plants, using a mosquito net and grids, and using eucalyptus oil, and of course we teach the group how to make eucalyptus oil.

3.     We teach the importance of having a strong immune system, achieved by a good diet, adequate exercise, avoidance of materials that destroy health such as most skin lightening creams and sodas.

4.     We teach the importance of drinking hot herbal teas, in particular lemon grass tea, to treat any sort of fever, as soon as the fever begins.

5.     We teach a range of medicinal plants that can be used to treat malaria. As always, we teach the preparation, the dosage, and the side effects. See Table I.

6.     We teach the cultivation and use of Artemisia annua. If people have a garden in which they grow the plants I have just mentioned, and Artemisia annua, then our experience is that very few cases indeed need referral to the hospital. Further, contrary to the rather limited literature that exists on the subject, the feedback we receive suggests that the treatment of malaria with artemisia tea results in longer intervals occurring before the patient suffers a further attack.

7.     We have formulated very specific treatment guidelines with Artemisia tea. Copies are available, both on paper and on our web-site. We recommend treatments for people of all ages and conditions. Our recommendations recognise that, like all drugs, artemisia tea can not be expected to work in 100% of cases, and also that, used together with old antimalarials, chloroquine, Fansidar and suchlike, the effectiveness is enhanced.

8.     We have produced an artemisia starter-kit. This has already been bought by people in 61 tropical countries. It contains seeds and all the information people need to cultivate the plant and to use artemisia to treat malaria. Thus the use of artemisia tea has been brought to regions where we have not yet run seminars.

Summary

The treatment of malaria with Natural Medicine enables people

1. in the remotest regions to have access to effective treatments.
2. to develop a degree of economic self-reliance.
3. to develop further their traditional skills in the preparation and use of herbal medicines.

We would welcome:

1. Thorough, properly financed clinical studies into the treatment of malaria with artemisia tea.
2. Research into herbal combination therapy, not only with artemisia but other herbal remedies also.
3. The opportunity to be able to develop further our programme of training seminars in Natural Medicine, so that many more communities can be helped.

Finally, why, in spite of all the criticism, does anamed continue to encourage African people to treat malaria with artemisia tea?

1. The tea contains over 20 substances thought to be anti-malarial, making the development of resistance less likely.
2. We bring artemisia tea to some of the remotest areas. How many years must such people suffer before affordable ACT drugs become available?
3. There is no known case of resistance ever having developed to a whole plant treatment.
4. In the unlikely event that resistance does develop, this conference has shown that there are several other plants that effectively treat malaria. For example, Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta in Ghana. Research and clinical trials are urgently needed with these also.

To read the full proceedings of the Africa Herbal Antimalarial Meeting, held 20-22 March 2006, click here