The World Looks To Zimbabwe For Coronavirus Treatment | OPINION
27 March 2020
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By Dr Masimba Mavaza | The world groans and kneels down in desperation for any cure for Coronavirus. Every scientist and every pharmacist is in a 24 hour round the clock shift in trying to find the cure for Corona. Thousands of people have died world wide the stark reality is that there is no cure for this pandemic. The whole world is-in a state of confusion.

Each nation is pumping money in trying to find or produce a cure for the virus. In this situation Africa is busy asking for money to buy the medication should it be found. Not even one country in Africa is talking about trying to produce or find a cure. Imagine if all those traditional medical practitioners would come together and get organised to find a cure for this virus. Where would we be today.
We have colleges of Science and Technology none of them is using this virus as an opportunity for Zimbabwe to find a cure for this virus. Zimbabweans have always put themselves down by an acute inferiority complex.

Zimbabweans do not believe in their own medication they have so much trust in the Western type of medication. As a result they believe only western medicine cures. The mind set of a normal Zimbabwean is that there is not medication without an injection. There is a chance that Traditional Medicine can heal Corona if a thorough research is done.

Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as “the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness”.Traditional medicine is contrasted with scientific medicine.

In Zimbabwe up to 80% of the population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. When adopted outside its traditional culture, traditional medicine is often considered a form of alternative medicine. Scientific disciplines which study traditional medicine include herbalism, ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, and medical anthropology.

The WHO notes, however, that “inappropriate use of traditional medicines or practices can have negative or dangerous effects” and that “further research is needed to ascertain the efficacy and safety” of several of the practices and medicinal plants used by traditional medicine systems.Ultimately, the WHO has implemented a nine-year strategy to “support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy. Zimbabwe has been presented by an opportunity to shine and come up with a cure for Corona virus.

Traditional medicine has a long history. It is the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness. This medicine is sometimes called Herbal medicines.

Herbal medicines include herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products, that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, or other plant materials, or combinations.

Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. In the last decade traditional medicine has become very popular in Zimbabwe partly due to the long unsustainable economic situation in the country. The high cost of drugs and increase in drug resistance to common diseases like malaria, bacteria infections and other sexually transmitted diseases has caused the therapeutic approach to alternative traditional medicine as an option for concerted search for new chemical entities (NCE).

Zimbabwe needs to create A platform which aims at harmonizing the traditional medicine practice in the country, create a synergy between TM and modern medicine and to institutionalize a more harmonized integrated TM practices as soon as possible. An overview of the practice of TM past, present and future perspectives that underpins the role in sustainable poverty alleviation has been discussed.
The rich biological biodiversity must be associated with the diversity of the ethnic groups in which each contributes a unique ethno pharmacopoeia and to Zimbabwe a national therapeutic patrimony,
In Zimbabwe the advent of economic crisis in the late 1990’s has created a shift towards consumption of medicinal plant as an increasing practice in herbal medicine.

Above and over the traditional medicine Zimbabwe has been overtaken by a wave of spiritual healing. This is when they seek some supernatural powers to heal. A lot of these spiritual healers have resorted into over exaggerating their powers and many Zimbabweans have died in the care of these healers.
But being that as it may Zimbabwe must gather together all the herbalists and put a serious study with the aim to find the cure for this virus.

Most Zimbabwean man and women are all over selling Sex enhancing medicine. They mix a lot of them to get very stronger ones. We can not have a country of sexually active people but not active in other aspects of health.
Coming together and with the government’s help ZIMBABWE can come together and will come up with a good Corona virus medication.
The biggest problem we have is that we look down upon our medicine. We do not have confidence in any ground breaking endeavour.

We should be competing with the whole world to get the cure for Corona.
It is a shame that we have the capacity to produce a very strong medicine to cure this virus.
Zimbabwe has the best traditional medicine in the region. We can engage into some remote controlled activities, Zimbabweans can as-well fly a source pan without wings or engine. We are the legends of surging in the spiritual realm by flying a broom. We even celebrated our powers in witchcraft by calling a town Karoi.

Boasting of all these powers we should harness them to come up with a cure for this virus.

Zimbabwe survived a lot of plagues and whatever was used then should be used now.

This the time the ministry of Health must wake up and make our own indigenous Corona Virus cure.
This will be possible if we can all come together and fight on to produce the Zimcorocure.

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