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Alternative medicine and its challenges

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Title: Alternative medicine and its challenges


1
Alternative medicine and its challenges
  • Jennifer Orwa, PhD, OGW
  • Chief Research Officer, Kenya Medical Research
    Institute, Center for Traditional Medicine and
    Drug Research
  • Presentation at the KPA Nairobi Branch Annual
    Scientific Conference, 21st May 2011 at 680 Hotel

2
Definitions
  • The term traditional medicine refers to
    practices and knowledge that existed before the
    arrival of modern conventional medicine which
    were used to promote, maintain and restore health
    and well-being
  • In industrialized countries, adaptations of
    traditional medicine are termed Complementary
    or Alternative(CAM)

3
Definitions
  • Worldwide, people developed unique indigenous
    healing traditions adapted and defined by their
    culture, beliefs and environment, which satisfied
    the health needs of communities over centuries.

4
Definition
  • In Western culture, alternative medicine is any
    healing practice "that does not fall within the
    realm of conventional medicine"
  • In some instances, it is based on historical or
    cultural traditions, rather than a scientific
    (e.g. evidence-based) basis
  • However critics to this definition exist
  • Richard Dawkins has stated that "there is no
    alternative medicine
  • There is only medicine that works and medicine
    that doesn't work

5
Alternative medicine
  • Is frequently grouped with complementary medicine
    which generally refers to the same interventions
    when used in conjunction with mainstream
    techniques, under the umbrella term complementary
    and alternative medicine, or CAM.
  • Some researchers in alternative medicine oppose
    this grouping, preferring to emphasize
    differences of approach, but nevertheless use the
    term CAM, which has become standard

6
Alternative medicine
  • Although heterogeneous, the major CAM systems
    have many common characteristics including
  • a focus on individualizing treatments
  • treating the whole person
  • promoting self-care and self-healing, and
  • recognizing the spiritual nature of each
    individual

7
Alternative medicine
  • In addition, many CAM systems have
    characteristics commonly found in mainstream
    health care, such as
  • a focus on good nutrition and preventive
    practices
  • Unlike mainstream medicine
  • CAM often lacks or has only limited experimental
    and clinical study

8
Examples of CAM
  • Acupuncture
  • the practice of inserting thin needles into
    specific body points to improve health and
    well-being
  • It originated in China more than 2,000 years ago

Acupuncture needles
9
Examples of CAM
  • Acupuncture
  • Research has shown that it reduces nausea and
    vomiting after surgery and chemotherapy
  • It can also relieve pain
  • Researchers don't fully understand how
    acupuncture works
  • It might aid the activity of your body's
    pain-killing chemicals
  • It also might affect how you release chemicals
    that regulate blood pressure and flow

10
Examples of CAM
  • Yoga
  • Herbs
  • Nutritional based
  • Dietary supplements

11
Examples of CAM
  • Traditional Chinese medicine
  • Ayurveda
  • Meditation
  • Homeopathy
  • Hypnosis

12
Components of Traditional Medicine
  • herbal medicine
  • surgery
  • bone-setting
  • spinal manipulation and massage
  • Psychotherapy
  • psychiatry
  • preventive medicine

13
Traditional medicine in Africa
  • In the physical medicine
  • herbal, animal, and mineral substances may be
    used
  • In the metaphysical division of traditional
    medicine
  • Prayers, invocations, or incantations are offered
    to some mysterious and powerful forces

14
Herbal Medicines
  • These are sold as
  • Tablets, Capsules
  • Powders
  • Teas
  • Extracts
  • Fresh or dried plants

15
Challenges
  • International diversity
  • Traditional medicine practices have been adopted
    in different cultures and regions without the
    parallel advance of international standards and
    methods for evaluation

16
Challenges
  • National policy and regulation
  • Not many countries have national policies for
    traditional medicine
  • Regulating traditional medicine products,
    practices and practitioners is difficult due to
    variations in definitions and categorizations of
    traditional medicine therapies

17
Challenges
  • National policy and regulation
  • A single herbal product could be defined as
    either a food, a dietary supplement or an herbal
    medicine, depending on the country
  • This disparity in regulations at the national
    level has implications for international access
    and distribution of products

18
Challenges
  • Safety, effectiveness and quality
  • Scientific evidence from tests done to evaluate
    the safety and effectiveness of traditional
    medicine products and practices is limited
  • Requirements and methods for research and
    evaluation are complex
  • For example, it can be difficult to assess the
    quality of finished herbal products

19
Challenges
  • Safety, effectiveness and quality
  • The safety, effectiveness and quality of finished
    herbal medicine products depend on the quality of
    their source materials (which can include
    hundreds of natural constituents), and how
    elements are handled through production processes

20
Challenges
  • Knowledge and sustainability
  • Herbal materials for products are collected from
    wild plant populations and cultivated medicinal
    plants
  • The expanding herbal product market could drive
    over-harvesting of plants and threaten
    biodiversity

21
Challenges
  • Knowledge and sustainability
  • Poorly managed collection and cultivation
    practices could lead to the extinction of
    endangered plant species and the destruction of
    natural resources

Prunus africana with stripped bark
22
Challenges
  • Patient safety and use
  • Many people believe that because medicines are
    herbal (natural) or traditional they are safe (or
    carry no risk for harm)
  • However, traditional medicines and practices can
    cause harmful, adverse reactions if the product
    or therapy is of poor quality, or it is taken
    inappropriately or in conjunction with other
    medicines

23
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