THE DEVELOPMENT AND MASS PRODUCTION OF CHEMICAL SYNTHESIZED DRUGS HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED HEALTH CARE IN MOST PART OF THE WORLD
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 HERBAL BITTERS
Herbal medicine is “the knowledge, skills and practice based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in maintenance of health and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness” (W.H.O 2005). There are different systems of herbal medicine and the philosophy and practices of each are influenced by the prevailing conditions, environment, and geographic area within which it first evolved (W.H.O 2005), however, a common philosophy is a holistic approach to life, equilibrium of the mind, body and the environment and an emphasis on health rather than on diseases. Generally, the focus is on the overall condition of the individual rather than the particular ailment or disease from which the patient is suffering and the use of herbs is a core part of all system of traditional medicine. (Ergebreten 2002; Conboy et al., 2007; Rishon 2008, Schmidt et al., 2008). Over the past 100, the development and mass production of chemical synthesized drugs have revolutionized healthcare in most part of the world. However, large section of the population in developing countries still rely on traditional practitioners and herbal medicine for primary care. In Africa, up to 90% and in India, 70% of their population depend on herbal medicine to help meet their healthcare needs. In China, herbal medicine account for around 40% of all healthcares delivered and more than 90% of general hospitals in China have unit for herbal medicine (W.H.O 2005). However, use of herbal medicine is not limited to developing countries, and during the past two decade public interest in natural therapies has increased greatly in industrialized countries, with expanding use of ethnobonicals. In the united state, in 2007, about 38% of adult and 12% of children were using some form of herbal medicine (Ernst, Schmint and Wider; Barnes, Bloom, and Nahim). The most common reasons for using herbal medicine are that, it is more affordable; more closely corresponds to patients idealogy, allays concerns about the adverse effects of chemical (synthetic) medicine, satisfies a desire for more personalized health care, and allows greater public access to health information.
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