Medicinal Plants (The Treasures of Nature)
Dr. Azza Dawoud Hussien
Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutics
It is impossible to imagine the survival of human race if the Earth had no plants on it. The dependence of human beings on plants dates back to the start of the human race.
The use of herbal medicines has increased remarkably in line with the global trend of people returning to natural therapies. According to an estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80% of the world population still uses herbs and other traditional medicines for their primary health care needs.
Medicinal plants are common sources of medicine. Solid evidences can be cited in favor of herbs being used for the treatment of diseases and for restoring and fortifying body systems in ancient systems of medicine such as Ayurvedic, Unani, and Chinese traditional medicine.
Herbal therapy, an oldest kind of Medicare known to humans and involves the use of entire plant or plant part, for the treatment of various debilitating diseases or to support good health. Various herbal formulations are available that have been shown to alleviate the symptoms of a variety of ailments, ranging from depression to cold and flu.
The collected rich knowledge about natural products has progressively developed into various systems including traditional Indian medicine, European medicine, Japanese Kampo, traditional Chinese medicine, or traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine and folk medicines, which includes not only herbal treatments but also pharmaceuticals derived from minerals and metals e.g. Mercury, Gandhaka (purified sulfur oxide), Gold, Silver etc.
In the written record, the study of herbs dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians who created clay tablets with lists of hundreds of medicinal plants. In 1500 B.C., the Ancient Egyptians wrote the Ebers Papyrus, which contains information on over 850 plant medicines, including garlic, juniper, cannabis, castor bean, aloe, and mandrake.
The plant kingdom offers a high range of structural diversity in the use of a variety of biochemicals. Phytochemical studies on medicinal plants have led to the isolation of a number of new pharmacophores, which have played a priceless role in drug discovery.
Chemical compounds in plants mediate their effects on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for the chemical compounds in conventional drugs, thus herbal medicines do not differ greatly from conventional drugs in terms of how they work. This enables herbal medicines to be as effective as conventional medicines, but also gives them the same potential to cause harmful side effects.
Sudan with all extremes of meteorological, climatic and topographical features resulting on very varied and luxuriant flora of all types could supply many countries of the world with medicinal plants.
The ancient Sudan was the seat of the ancient Nubian civilization which co-existed and mixed with the ancient Egyptian civilization. Between the 7th and 15th centuries, the northern Sudan witnessed the rise and fall of three Christian Kingdoms. Arabization and Islamization of Bilad-al-Sudan occurred over a long period of time by Arab infiltration through different routes. The rise of the Islamic Funj Kingdom in the 16th century accelerated the pace of Islamization of Bilad-al-Sudan. It encouraged Arab immigration which made the country a unique center of cultural interaction which gave Islam the ascendency over Christianity and pagan beliefs. Fusion of the Pharonic, Christian and Islamic cultures with the indigenous cultures gave the Sudan a unique and huge cultural heritage of which traditional herbal medicines is an integral part. In poor communities, traditional herbal medicines have remained as the most reasonable source of treatment of several diseases and microbial infections.
Many of drugs of established therapeutic value used in the pharmacopeias of different countries grow in many parts of Sudan.
Finally, the herbal sector has the potential to make significant contributions to the global economy. With the growing usage of herbal products, future global labeling practices should appropriately address quality concerns. Standardization of techniques and quality control data on safety and efficacy are necessary for an understanding of herbal medicine use.