Luanda – The lack of a policy on traditional medicine in Angola, the lack of articulation among practitioners of these services and the lack of research lead to a dispersion of initiatives and failure to guarantee security and efficacy in their utilisation,” Angop learned Monday in Luanda.
 

This was said by the minister of State and head of the Civil Office to Presidency of the Republic, Carlos Feijó. 

 
Carlos Feijo was presenting his view on the issue, during the opening of the first National onference on Traditional Medicine, on behalf of Angolan head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos.

 
He on the occasion stated that the Angolan Constitution sets as one of its essential tasks the promotion of practices that make first healthcare universal and free of charge, thus providing for other policies that cater for the populations in the rural areas and outskirts of big cities where traditional medicine is already used in the treatment of diseases.

 
 
He regarded the national policy on traditional medicine as of relevant, transversal and strategic importance as an essential instrument for the valorisation of the healer and retrieval of the traditions of the Angolan people as its cultural heritage.

 According to the official, the national health policy approved in 2010 recognises that the traditional medicine is in a state of incipient organisation, despite being sought for by many patients.

 
 
Carlos Feijó also stressed the role of traditional medicine in the prevention, diagnose and treatment of several diseases in various parts of the world and about 90 percent of the drugs used come from vegetal extracts.

 
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Infant and Children Education Fund (UNICEF) promoted the International Conference on First Healthcare, having recommended the member countries to formulate local policies and regulations for the use of practices that complement the traditional medicine with proved efficacy.

 
The WHO recognised that a large part of the population of developed countries rely on traditional medicine as their first care, as 80 percent of the said population use traditional practices in their healthcare and 85 percent use plants and drugs that derive from medicinal plants.

 
Therefore, in response to the WHO and SADC appeal regarding their resolutions and strategies for Africa, the Government of Angola considers the wide utilisation of the traditional medicine in the country part of the efforts for research and its valorisation, with a view a safer use by people.