WHO Endorses Traditional Medicines

Getting back to the topic of using traditional medicines against COVID, which I wrote about earlier, it seems now the World Health Organization (WHO) is also endorsing its use, or at least considering it. On September 19, the WHO formally endorsed a protocol for testing herbal medicines as potential treatments for the coronavirus and other epidemics.

The endorsement was specifically aimed at testing African herbal medicines, but the same should apply to all herbal medicines used around the world. A statement by the WHO director read, "The onset of COVID-19, like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, has highlighted the need for strengthened health systems and accelerated research and development programmes, including on traditional medicines."

The move seems to be in response to some African countries using and selling herbal remedies for treating COVID. The most prominent one is a drink called COVID-Organics or CVO, which is being sold widely in Madagascar, with their President himself pitching it as a cure for the virus.

Herbal drink marketed for COVID treatment

Sources:

https://www.afro.who.int/news/who-supports-scientifically-proven-traditional-medicine

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53484298
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52519853

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