Indigenous knowledge remedies to manage HIV/AIDS

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development Southern African Network for Biosciences (AUDA NEPAD SANBio), the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), hosted a stakeholder engagement on their collaborative project titled: Application of indigenous knowledge for the development and production of remedies to manage HIV/AIDS in Eswatini and Zimbabwe. The meeting took place on Wednesday, 24 January 2024, at Rainbow Towers in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The project is funded by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in partnership with the German Development Cooperation, under the Support to Industrialisation and Productive Sectors Programme. The stakeholder engagement boasted the attendance of Ministers, Principal Vice-Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, Directors, Professors, researchers, students, and knowledge holders from the three countries. Its primary purpose was to facilitate networking and relationship-building among stakeholders, foster a sense of community, and demonstrate transparency and honesty to build trust and collaboration between the three SADC member states.

The CSIR and SANBio support Eswatini and Zimbabwe by providing access to infrastructure, capabilities, and services that enable the two institutions to enhance their capacity to support indigenous knowledge systems-based therapeutics and products. This builds on work already conducted by SANBio during its implementation of the BioFISA 1 programme, where several countries in the region were supported to develop and formulate products from their biodiversity and indigenous knowledge systems. The CSIR’s screening capabilities, omics platforms and formulation, product, and development (including quality testing) are used to conduct some of the safety and mechanisms of action tests for identifying therapeutic concepts and models.

“Our role as SANBio is to support Eswatini and Zimbabwe to further develop their capabilities in the development and manufacturing of quality and safe herbal remedies, using a hub-and-spoke model to implement the project with the CSIR as SANBio’s regional hub for shared infrastructure, capabilities, and services and the two institutions in Eswatini and Zimbabwe as the spokes. Ultimately, this consortium will form part of a regional cluster for the development of herbal remedies for HIV/AIDS and associated opportunistic infections,” said Prof. Ereck Chakauya, AUDA-NEPAD SANBio Network Manager and Principal Investigator of the Support to Industrialisation and Productive Sectors project.

Dr Gugu Sibandze from the University of Eswatini expressed that traditional medicines are not regulated in Eswatini and have lagged in development efforts, thus they do not benefit from the progress made by other sectors of society.

“The project has the potential to improve livelihoods while ensuring the safety and quality of traditional medicines. When safety and quality is demonstrated, it is likely that healers will also gain respect and trust in society, and traditional medicines can be made accessible to a wider audience,” she said.

Both HIT and UNESWA work on selected knowledge holders for the identified remedies that are being considered for this project. The need addressed by both institutions is to develop high-quality and safe herbal remedies that can be manufactured locally.

“The University of Eswatini has conducted research in traditional medicine since the 1990s and is very excited by this partnership and funding which seeks to develop and industrialise African traditional medicines to solve one of southern Africa’s persistent problems – HIV/AIDS. We are happy to be working with partners who have made strides in the field of herbal medicines and are looking to learn and grow this area in Eswatini,” added Dr Sibandze.

While some strides have been made to support traditional healers and herbalists in Zimbabwe as part of its national primary healthcare system, more effort is needed to substantiate claims made on products, including addressing issues of safety and quality. HIT has been developing capacity in the pharmaceutical value chain by collaborating with local institutions to support safety studies on drug-herb interactions and is currently procuring equipment to conduct further safety studies, formulation and product development.

Professor Gundidza, the project’s Co-Principal Investigator from HIT, said, “Zimbabwe can significantly reduce expenditure on anti-retroviral purchases when the project leads to manufacturing of efficacious, safe, and high-quality medicinal products that can be used to treat HIV and AIDS. Secondly, vulnerable communities living with HIV/AIDS can have access to affordable and readily available medications to manage their HIV infections.” 

The project will create downstream jobs for rural communities as they will be contracted to produce raw materials for the manufacturing of medicinal products. 

“SADC, the CSIR, SANBio, HIT and UNESWA will get regional, continental and international recognition for having contributed to the development of new medicinal products for the world. More funding may be easier to obtain since we will have a good track record in drug development,” Prof. Gundidza concluded.

-ENDS-

Issued by CSIR Strategic Communications

For enquiries contact:
Milisa Kentane: Group Manager: Strategic Communication
Email: MKentane@csir.co.za
Mobile: +27 (0)64 756 0260
 

About the CSIR:

The CSIR, an entity of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, is one of the leading scientific and technology research, development and implementation organisations in Africa. Constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1945 as a science council, the CSIR undertakes directed and multidisciplinary research and technological innovation, as well as industrial and scientific development to improve the quality of life of all South Africans. For more information, visit www.csir.co.za

Follow us on social media:

Twitter: @CSIR. Facebook: CSIRSouthAfrica. Instagram: CSIRSouthAfrica. LinkedIn: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). YouTube: CSIRNewMedia