OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 12 (AFP) - Practitioners of traditional African medicine systems Tuesday appealed for their inclusion in new AIDS research as well as the global fight against the pandemic.

Some 150 to 200 traditional healers and doctors told a UN-backed annual forum on AIDS in Africa which opened here Sunday that they had a lot to offer.

Their appeal was launched through the Prometra (Promotion of Traditional Medicines), a non-governmental organisation.

A statement called on "all countries to put in place legal measures allowing the free practice of traditional medicines" and asked that traditional healers be allowed to play "an active role as agents of information, education and communication."

It also asked for their "collaboration in bio-medical research" as well as the creation of an international body for the "protection of traditonal medicines."

Erick Vidjin' Agnih Gbodossou, head of Prometra, told AFP: "One has to work towards a frank collaboration. Credible studies have shown that 85 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa (the region hardest hit by AIDS) consult traditional healers.

"We don't pretend to cure AIDS, but studies have shown that traditional healers have had a lot of success with related diseases," he said.

Gbodossou said a research centre in Fati, Senegal, had already attracted European and US experts, notably from the Pasteur Institute, on traditional medicines.

"As regards AIDS, there are those who say I can do this, I can do that and take money. They are charlatans, (but) one must never confuse them with traditional healers," he added.

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