As Nigeria continues to experience inflation which has seen the price of food and medicines go up, a lot of Nigerians have begun to look for ways to cut down on some basic expenses. In a bid to save cost on the purchase of foreign drugs, some have resorted to the use of herbal remedies even though it is unregulated by health authorities and medical experts have often warned about the risk involved in using such products. Some lamented that their meager income can no longer accommodate the increasingly high hospital and drug costs.
The use of herbal medicine continues to expand rapidly across the country with many people now resorting to these products for the treatment of various health challenges as inflation continues to bite hard in the country. Nigeria’s economy has been badly hit by global oil prices and the pandemic, which slashed petroleum revenue, weakened the local currency and kept inflation at around 17%. Sellers of herbal drugs have disclosed that the sales of their products have soared and demand has increased from customers.
They stated that there is hardly any day that they do not make sales, as the number of customers has increased four-fold. They are aware that the high patronage they are experiencing lately, is a result of inflation which has seen the cost of food and drugs rise. A lot of people do not have money to buy proper medications anymore. Last year December, the National Agency For Food Drug Administration And Control, NAFDAC warned Nigerians against using herbal concoctions due to poor storage which exposes the medications to bacteria.
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With the current rate of inflation that has ravaged the country and increased the prices of foods and drugs, will those who can’t afford foreign medicine take heed to NAFDAC’s advice? I don’t think so. This will indeed be a case of “if I perish, I perish” for some of them. In a bid to make the herbal medicine standard with that of the conventional medicines to avoid being banned by NAFDAC, a lot of herbal medicine givers have gone the extra mile to ensure that their products are licensed to ensure safety, quality and efficacy.
The medicine is accompanied by comprehensive information such as indications, precautions, how to use/store the product, side effects, and regulatory information for safe use. As inflation continues to bite hard on the economy of the country, this is indeed time for herbal vendors to utilize the opportunity effectively. Now considering how unhealthy some of these herbal remedies could be, especially those without labels, of course, a lot of people will be left with no option other than to buy these herbal drugs simply because it is what they can afford. This won’t deter them in any way.
One question that keeps coming to my mind is this? Will the country experience a high mortality rate, considering how unhealthy some of these drugs are? Your guess is as good as mine. A medical doctor in Nigeria disclosed that one major downside of herbal medicine is the “one cure for all ailment” trend as well as claims of cure for diseases considered incurable but manageable, such as AIDS, cancer, and Diabetes. But now, considering the fact that most herbal medicines are gotten from plants which is God’s gift to mankind, hopefully, there might not be high mortality cases or health issues that will arise across the country.
One thing I expect the government to do this period knowing full well that a lot of Nigerians have resorted to herbal medicines is for them to collaborate with herbal medicine practitioners as some of their products do not undergo full clinical trials, to ensure that they help to curb whatever health challenges it may pose.