With over 50,000 distinct species in sub-Saharan Africa alone, the African continent is endowed with an enormous wealth of plant resources. While more than 25 percent of known species have been used for several centuries in traditional African medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases, Africa remains a minor player in the global natural
This volume in the series is devoted to Africa, a continent that possesses a vast treasure of medicinal plants and has produced some exclusive materials for the world market. This volume is expected to strengthen the medicinal plant sector in African countries by making comprehensive information on medicinal and aromatic plants available to policy-makers and entrepreneurs. It can be used to frame effective policies and create an environment conducive to the growth of the plant-based medicine industry, bringing economic benefit to African nations. It will help health organizations to improve the health of their people by using their own resources and a less expensive system of medicine, which is accepted by African society. It could also lead scientific communities to increase R&D activities in the field.
Phytochemicals from medicinal plants are receiving ever greater attention in the scientific literature, in medicine, and in the world economy in general. For example, the global value of plant-derived pharmaceuticals will reach $500 billion in the year 2000 in the OECD countries. In the developing countries, over-the-counter remedies and "ethical phytomedicines," which are standardized toxicologically and clinically defined crude drugs, are seen as a promising low cost alternatives in primary health care. The field also has benefited greatly in recent years from the interaction of the study of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and the application of modem phytochemical analysis and biological activity studies to medicinal plants. The papers on this topic assembled in the present volume were presented at the annual meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America, held in Mexico City, August 15-19, 1994. This meeting location was chosen at the time of entry of Mexico into the North American Free Trade Agreement as another way to celebrate the closer ties between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The meeting site was the historic Calinda Geneve Hotel in Mexico City, a most appropriate site to host a group of phytochemists, since it was the address of Russel Marker. Marker lived at the hotel, and his famous papers on steroidal saponins from Dioscorea composita, which launched the birth control pill, bear the address of the hotel.
This book provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the current and future contributions that African plants can and will continue to make both internal to Africa and on the global stage.
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease that affects millions worldwide, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The recent emergence and spread of multidrug resistance in parts of Southeast Asia prompts the urgent need for novel and effective therapy against the disease. Medicinal Plants and Malaria: Applications, Trends, and Prospects highlig
This publication provides a comprehensive and scientifically accurate guide to the best-known and most important medicinal plants, including those of special commercial or historical interest. It includes descriptions of more than 300 medicinal plants and their close relatives, with each entry summarising botanical background, geographical origin, therapeutic category, historical and modern uses, active ingredients, and pharmacological effects. Over 500 full-color photographs are included to assist in the identification of the plants.
Drawing on indigenous and scientific knowledge of medicinal plants, Traditional Herbal Therapy for the Human Immune System presents the protective and therapeutic potential of plant-based drinks, supplements, nutraceuticals, synergy food, superfoods, and other products. Medicinal plants and their products can affect the immune system and act as immunomodulators. Medicinal plants are popularly used in folk medicine to accelerate the human immune defence and improve body reactions against infectious or exogenous injuries, as well as to suppress the abnormal immune response occurring in immune disorders. This book explains how medicinal plants can act as a source of vitamins and improve body functions such as enhanced oxygen circulation, maintained blood pressure and improved mood. It also outlines how specific properties of certain plants can help boost the immune system of humans with cancer, HIV, and COVID-19. Key features: Provides specific information on how to accelerate and or fortify the human immune system by using medicinal plants. Presents scientific understanding of herbs, shrubs, climbers and trees and their potential uses in conventional and herbal medicine systems. Discusses the specific role of herbal plants that act as antiviral and antibacterial agents and offer boosted immunity for cancer, H1N1 virus, relieving swine flu, HIV and COVID-19 patients. Part of the Exploring Medicinal Plants series, this book is useful for researchers and students, as well as policy makers and people working in industry, who have an interest in plant-derived medications.
All 15 new independent states established in the economic space of the former Soviet Union suffered big declines in output and trade after their independence. This study summarizes cross-country experience on the role of trade and payments policies in the linked contraction of output and trade by drawing on eight country case studies: Estonia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The results of the case studies show that trade reform and reorientation of trade toward the rest of the world have done much to arrest the decline in output usually associated with the transformation from plan to market. Also available in Russian: Stock no. 13687 (ISBN 0-8213-3687-8).
