The protracted war of supremacy between conventional health providers andtheir traditional counterparts doesn’t augur well for the common man
bearing in mind that human beings entirely depend on their all
important services for survival.

This historical bad blood that has existed over the years between these two
groups, particularly in Kenya has impacted negatively on the health
sector.

Instead of joining efforts and building on the competence of each other to
fight diseases that threaten human life with extinction, the two branch
of medicine continuously engage in war of words to an extend that they
put into question each others’ capacity and mandate of providing
quality healthcare.

Doctors believe that most herbalists are quacks who are out to make quick
financial gain from unsuspecting patients on the pretext of healing
them using natural therapies.

On the other hand, traditional health practitioners say that doctors have
gone overboard and are now working in cohort with rich multinational
pharmaceutical companies to obstruct research, information and use of
natural therapies in an attempt to make the world believe that
synthetic drugs are the answer to human diseases.

Although most people in the world depend on traditional and alternative
healthcare due to its accessibility, affordability and sometimes
efficacy, most countries have not invested sufficiently in this vital
sub-sector.

For instance, there is no clear framework guiding natural therapies.
Instead it is merely classified as falling under the Department of
Culture in the Ministry of Gender, Sports and Culture.

But this ministry lacks the capacity and expertise to promote traditional
medicine estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to beused by
80% of Kenyans.

While critics continue to paint herbalists in bad light as witchcrafts, WHO
however continues to not only promote research and development by
scientists in collaboration with traditional health practitioners on
medicinal plants to validate claims made on their safety, efficacy and
quality but also provides an enabling  economic,
regulatory and political environment for local production of natural
therapies through development of industries that produce standardized
traditional remedies in order to increase access to herbal medicine.

Further, there is the issue of dissemination of appropriate information to the
general public and consumers, which most analysts feel is not
sufficient to empower the general population with knowledge and skills
for the promotion and proper use of herbal medicine.

Proponents of natural treatment are of the opinion that it is better and more efficient compared to the conventional one.  

This is because pharmaceutical companies being in business just like any
other investment enterprise will not produce drugs that completely
prevent or eradicate diseases which provide a market place for the
continued use of drugs as this will send them out of business.

One such person is Dr. Matthias Rath, a conventional medical doctor who
turned into an herbalist after discovering that most of the
pharmaceutical drugs currently in the world market have no proven
efficacy but merely help alleviate symptoms.

As a result of this, today’s most common diseases such as cardiovascular,
cancer, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke are not contained
but rather continue to spread despite the fact that effective,
non-patentable alternatives are available.

In his book, Why Animals Don’t Get Heart Attacks –But People Do,
Dr. Rath blames the pharmaceutical industry for what he terms as doing
business with diseases which has led to premature death of millions of
people worldwide.

The controversial author goes on to say that although biology and
biochemistry students around the world learn about the role of
micronutrients for optimum functions of the cells, the influence of the
pharmaceutical cartel on medical education has such a tight grip that,
so far, these scientific effects have not been applied to solve medical
problems.

The German-born researcher who is currently a United States citizen
discovered that animals don’t get heart attack because unlike human
beings, they produce their own Vitamin C in their bodies which is
required to produce the reinforcement molecules in the body and its
blood vessel called collagen.  

The more Vitamin C, the more collagen, the more stability for the body
vessel walls and the less chances of suffering from heart attacks.

According to him, heart attack, just like hypertension, heart failure, irregular
heart beat, diabetic circulatory problems and stroke could be prevented
by taking enough vitamins, minerals, certain amino acids and trace
elements.

Research also shows that all viruses can be partially or completely blocked by
natural therapies. Vitamin C decreases the multiplication of viruses.  

A study published in the USA’s National Academy of Sciences shows that
vitamin C in amounts that can be taken by people on a daily basis could
block the replication of the HIV virus by more than 99.9%.

 Another substance being touted to block the spreading of viruses is the amino
acid lysine. The rationale here is that since all viruses spread by
digesting the surrounding tissue with the help of enzymes, neutralizing
these enzymes will decrease or prevent the spreading of the virus.

More over, vitamins A and other essential nutrients have been documented to
enhance the immune system and thereby contribute to the effective
prevention and treatment of AIDS.

If the current global trends of everything ranging from food, medicine,
cosmetics and even tooth paste going herbal is anything to go by then
there is dire need for both conventional doctors and herbalists to work
together to salvage humanity from the ever increasing ailments.    

While the pharmaceutical industry assert that vitamins have side effects,
natural therapists maintain that vitamins, minerals and amino acids are
the building blocks of life and the body can eliminate any surplus of
them without any problems unlike synthetic drugs which are strange to
the body.  

According to the American Medical Association, numerous deadly side effects of
pharmaceutical drugs have become the fourth leading cause of death in
the industrialized world.