Alternative Medicine in Health Care: Is the Time not Now to Standardize African Phytomedicine to Indigenize Health Care and Create Entrepreneurial Opportunities?

Approximately 80% of Africans are engaged in phytomedicine practice and use in primary healthcare circumstances. This prominence is due to the predicaments of non-affordability, unavailability, and inaccessibility of synthetic drugs due to poor health systems. There is a huge investment in the research-based pharmaceutical industry in developing new medicines and vaccines that prevent and treat diseases and improve the lives of patients, especially in African countries. This contribution to medical progress and the huge cost incurred may require innovative means, cooperation, partnerships, and favorable business conditions for sustainable impact. Phytomedicine still holds large reserves of hit targets and practices to support the efforts of the industry and create new enterprises. However, the challenges remain that phytomedicine, in its current state in Africa, cannot appropriately integrate into the standard pharmaceutical practice and business opportunities in which entrepreneurs can participate. Soon as systematic analytical and standardization procedures are evoked within favorable policy and regulatory frameworks, products of phytomedicine research may fit well into business models for pharmaceuticals and form the bedrock for the sustainable engagement of pharmaceutical industries in the health care of economically poor African populations. It is therefore essential that appropriate strategies be developed for phytomedicine and phytomedicine research in which stakeholders, including academia, pharmaceutical companies, and entrepreneur partners, play pivotal roles.