Jumoke Olasunkanmi and Hadiza Ibrahim
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ali Pate, has announced that in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to improve health coverage in Nigeria and improve the economy, it will pursue ways of utilising traditional medicine to address the country’s health challenges.
He made this statement on Monday at the 2023 African Traditional Medicine Day celebration in Abuja, themed, “The Contribution of Traditional Medicine to Holistic Health and Wellbeing for All’.
Represented by the Director of Human Resource Department, Mallam Hassan Salau, he stated: “Nigeria’s rich biodiversity, qualitative data, scientific research and the use of innovation will be used to optimise the contribution of traditional medicine to Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development, and will also be guided by respect for our indigenous resources and Intellectual property rights”.
Speaking at the event, the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s presentative, Dr. Walter Kazad, added that the theme of this year’s celebration “echoes the resonance of the inaugural WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit” held in Gandhinagar, India.
He noted that the summit was to raise political commitment on traditional medicine.
The Director for Traditional Medicine, Pharmacist Titus Tile, who represented the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Daju Kachollom, while making her contribution, added that the ministry was aware of the important role that traditional medicine can pplay in achieving universal health coverage.
She added that the ministry was, therefore, working towards the integration of traditional medicine into the national healthcare delivery system.
“The Federal Government has through various policies and pprogrammes demonstrated sustained determination and efforts towards the development of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine,” she said.
