President Museveni’s directive to Ugandan scientists to intensify research into local herbs and natural plants empirically proven to have curative properties demands our critical attention. The president opted to use the 20th anniversary ceremony of Quality Chemical Industries Limited (QCIL)-staged last week in the Kampala suburb of Luzira-to issue the clarion call. This, in and of itself, was a significant decision.
QCIL annually produces 1.4 billion tablets. While birthdays typically bring glitz, as well as distraction, QCIL marked 20 years of existence with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new modern factory at Luzira Industrial Park. The factory signals intent to introduce new production lines for tuberculosis treatments that will, ultimately, ramp up QCIL’s annual pharmaceutical tablet numbers to an impressive 2.4 billion. By any measure, the numbers are parade worthy. We certainly agree with the considered view of Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, that the numbers move Uganda ‘towards self-reliance’ and underscore the need to develop homegrown solutions.
The vaccine nationalism that was on full display during the pandemic when countries from the Global South like Uganda found themselves at the back of the queue was instructive. But also an important facet in the home solutions narrative, underlined by Mr Museveni, is the thorny but critical task of strengthening the hand of Ugandans that produce natural medicine. There is no shortage of such people. If the pandemic introduced the country to Prof Patrick Ogwang and his Covidex remedy, another concoction said to have curative properties for diabetes has captured the imagination of many post-pandemic.
The concoction is the handiwork of David Ssenfuka-a Ugandan herbalist with little or no formal education, who was handed down the set of instructions for production by his kin. We agree with the President that there is a dire need to prop up producers of such herbal remedies-whether they are educated enough to be called ethnobotanists or pejoratively described as herbalists due to a dearth of formal education. The need to critically examine the historical and cultural assumptions of medicine from the Global North with the view of incorporating diverse perspectives cannot be stressed enough. Indeed, we will take great strides to decolonise medicine if and when we integrate traditional and indigenous healing practices alongside Western biomedical approaches.
The key thing will be to underscore the need for empirical evidence to shield Ugandans from rogue elements who tend to be in the habit of selling snake oil.
The good news is that the higher-ups in Uganda’s health sector appear to be alive to the fact that peril and promise do live side by side. The National Drug and Health Products Authority Bill, 2025, tabled in the House on September 4, has drawn boundaries that move to offset the peril while embracing the promising aspects of herbal medicine.
The Bill describes herbal medicine as ‘any medicine that exclusively contains as active ingredients, one or more parts of natural organic or inorganic plant materials with or without animal or mineral material in a form suitable for administration to human beings.’ If its letter and spirit are effected, the decolonisation process could transform Uganda’s healthcare system to be more equitable, culturally safe, and inclusive. This will be no mean feat.