Inter Press Service - December 7, 2000
Remi Oyo

"Government is currently in support of how traditional medicine can contribute optimally to the control of HIV-AIDS and malaria from the promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative perspectives," Health Minister Tim Menakaya told the participants of an international conference on Traditional Medicine on HIV/AIDS and Malaria.

Over the past six months Menakaya has been roundly criticised for his Ministry's refusal to acknowledge claims by some orthodox doctors of cures for AIDS. "After prolonged suppression in favour of conventional medicine, traditional medicine and practitioners henceforth will be accorded formal status in the national health system," he said.

The conference, which is currently underway here, hopes to develop and harmonise methods of clinical evaluation of traditional medicines for AIDS, provide biochemical evaluation and standardisation and establish a forum for the exchange of ideas on the disease.

Conference documents criticised African governments for the lack of an appropriate policy framework to enable the evaluation and proper utilisation of traditional medicines in the control AIDS and malaria.

The inadequacy has prevented progressive strengthening of national and local capacities for assessing clinical situations and selecting appropriate, measures aimed at preventing these diseases.

Michael Iwu, spokesman for the conference organisers reinforced the criticism calling for a resolution of the inherent social, ethical and policy issues involved in the use of traditional medicine.

Iwu said that a significant part of the traditional interventions involved the "use of knowledge collected from indigenous nature populations".

The international traditional medicine conference comes days after controversial Abuja surgeon Jeremiah Abalaka sued the Nigerian government for 10 billion dollars for "injurious falsehood".

Abalaka has for more than a year been in the eye of a storm after claiming that he had discovered a cure for AIDS at his Specialist Hospital in Gwagwalada, a suburb of this federal capital.

The surgeon, who is currently challenging the government ban on his vaccines, is seeking a judicial injunction seeking to prohibit five key government officials from making "malicious publications" against his vaccines.

Abalaka claims that the statements of the officials had denied him huge revenue accruable from his alleged breakthrough.

The law suit also coincides with comments from the Catholic Church which called for government's support for Nigerians making genuine efforts to find a cure for the pandemic.

"There is no reason why a cure cannot come from our country, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference said at a mass here to mark the World's AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

"We must work assiduously and with all our might. One hopes that government will see this project (eradicating AIDS) as a matter of national emergency and do everything to encourage Nigerians to find a remedy," Onaiyekan.

For the Archbishop, "there should be no room for fruitless controversies on this matter, rather all hands must be on deck, every claim carefully examined and judged on its merit".

Onaiyekan said the Catholic Church will set up action committees to complement the federal government's fight against AIDS, but he restated the church's opposition to the use of condoms. The media advertisement of condoms was tantamount to the promotion of 'reckless sex", he argued.

But the privately-owned national newspaper 'This Day' said Wednesday that "the use of condoms should be vigorously canvassed in the media".

"Condoms should be distributed free of charge not just in five star hotels but also in low grade inns, brothels, night clubs and if need be, schools," the newspaper's editorial said.

For President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current high unemployment rate in the country is linked to the rising rate of AIDS victims which has surpassed the five percent World Health Organisation mark for classification as an explosive pandemic. The rate of HIV infection in Nigeria is 5.4 percent and there are 2.6 million Nigerians living with AIDS, the disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

While more women have taken to prostitution, Obasanjo said the "men too, because the parlous economic situation has left most of them out of jobs and frustration has made some addicted to drugs are at risk of HIV infection". Obasanjo promised that loans will be granted young people to start their own businesses and reduce the rate of prostitution.

Nigeria is currently benefiting from collaboration with the World Bank under a two-year action plan to fight the disease. A similar long-term strategy is being mapped out with the Joint UN Committee on AIDS, according to Ronke Akinsete, a professor of medicine and chair of the National Action Committee on AIDS. (END/IPS/HE/DV/ro/da/00).
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