Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Sierra Leone by Cyrus Macfoy, Ph.D.


  • Paperback: 190 pages
  • Publisher: iUniverse (December 5, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1491706090
  • ISBN-13: 978-1491706091
Medicinal plants and traditional medical practices from Sierra Leone have much to offer the rest of the world. Dr. Cyrus MacFoy, an experienced researcher and scientific consultant, highlights more than two hundred plants used to cure more than one hundred diseases and illnesses in this informational guide.




Vitabu: When did you first become interested in medicinal plants and traditional medicine in Sierra Leone?

Cyrus Macfoy: During my Ph.D. research at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (University of London) in the mid 1970’s I was fascinated by the fact  that some of the compounds that plants have evolved to defend themselves  against pathogens, pests and herbivores are indeed the  same compounds that  are responsible for curing many diseases and illnesses in humans. Thus,  when I joined Fourah Bay College,  University of Sierra Leone, in 1979 as a biochemist in the Biology Department, and was deciding what area of research to pursue that would be of direct relevance to Sierra Leone, I naturally converged to the areas of medicinal plants and traditional medicine; and other useful plants; areas that were more like virgin areas for research in Sierra Leone at that time, since very little work had been done to that date, despite the vast myriad of useful plant species in the flora of Sierra Leone.

Vitabu: How long did it take you to write Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Sierra Leone?

Cyrus Macfoy: Most of the field research was conducted in the 80’s before I left Sierra Leone for the U.K. where I continued the work and started writing in the 90’s. In the 2000’s, further research and writing was continued in the U.S.A. intermittently between lecturing, other research projects and consultancy work for the United Nations, Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Bank.

Vitabu: Accessing healthcare is such a big issue for the poor and underserved but after reading your book the irony is we're all surrounded by plants that can cure mostly everything.

Cyrus Macfoy: Indeed access to health care by the poor and underserved in Sierra Leone is still challenging.
Many people depend on traditional healers for their health care provision, and there is a vast cornucopia of medicinal plant species throughout Sierra Leone. This traditional system of medicine has the potential to more effectively contribute to affordable, accessible, appropriate, efficient and effective health care services for all. But the system remains unstructured and unregulated with many untrained herbalists, quacks, and profiteering charlatans. Products by many herbalists are not standardized, hence dosage and hygiene are sometimes major issues. Products are not subject to quality control, safety, and efficacy.

However a new national policy has been developed and launched in 2007 that addresses these issues, but it still awaits Government ratification. Once this is done and implemented appropriately, I envisage that traditional medicine will play a more meaningful role in the health care delivery system in Sierra Leone.

Dr. Cyrus MacFoy has served as a consultant for the United Nations, Commonwealth Secretariat, and the World Bank to various African and European countries. He graduated from Royal Holloway College, University of London, with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London with a master’s degree in environmental science and a doctorate in ecological biochemistry.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vitabu features the memorable sixth chapter of Bakar Mansaray's new book

Image
Bakar Mansaray, the founder of the Mandingo Scrolls blog and winner of the 2017 Writer-of-the-Year, Afro-Canadian Heroes Award, is known for his riveting short stories and tales of life in his native Sierra Leone. In his new book, My Afro-Canadian Chronicle , published by Sierra Leonean Writers Series, the author sheds a personal light on the devastating effects of underdevelopment on a country that went through one of the most atrocious civil wars in modern history. "For those who have read books of literature, history and anthropology from Sierra Leone and yet harbour the sinking feeling that there had to be a missing link between narratives, Bakar’s book provides that missing link to complete the national narrative," writes novelist and poet Oumar Farouk Sesay in the Foreword. "This autobiography is a portrait painted on a canvas of memory in vivid and sometimes dark hues, telling a story only a mind as lucid as the author’s can tell. This excerpt was used wi
Read more

Summer hangout with Pede Hollist's So the Path Does Not Die

Image
Pede Hollist, a native of Sierra Leone, is an associate professor of English at The University of Tampa, Florida. His interests cover the literature of the African imagination—literary expressions in the African continent as well as in the African Diaspora. So the Path Does not Die is his first novel.  His short story "‘Foreign Aid" was on the shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. Vitabu : I found So the Path Does Not Die a remarkable book. The story travels from a graphic, mystical past to the present time, through almost impossible and sometimes hidden cultural, social and economic issues. How did you come up with the idea for the Musudugu chaper? Pede Hollist: Among the Kuranko, Musudugu refers to a woman’s dwelling, but it also describes a mythical place where only women lived, happily and in sisterhood.  The story of Kumba Kargbo’s confrontation with the elders of Musudugu suggests that the conflict between old and new ways and the tension betw
Read more

Susan's Bay, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Image
An undated aerial photo of Susan's Bay, Freetown by Wallin Eleazar Riebel of Otterbein University. The postcard was digitized in March 2006 and the digital publisher is the Otterbein University Library. The original photo is stored in the repository of the Otterbein University Library Archives. Postcard captioned, "Susan's Bay, Sierra Leone." Aerial view, looking inland. ( Susan's Bay, Freetown, Sierra Leone ) On Wednesday, March 24, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr Mayor of Freetown wrote on Facebook :  "J ust left the scene of a terrible fire at Susan’s Bay. The entire community has been burnt to the ground. Thousands are affected. We won’t know the full scale of the disaster until tomorrow when we conduct an assessment with NDMA and other partners. Many children are missing, separated from their parents in the chaos. Twelve children were at the FSU at Eastern Police station. We understand that other children might have boarded boats moored on the wharf. Devastating to w
Read more