South Africa: Center to Study Local Plants for Clues to HIV

A consortium of researchers studying local plants that traditional healers use to fight HIV/AIDS recently received $4.4 million from the US National Institutes of Health. While four out of five South Africans use traditional medicines, according to the Health Department, there is little scientific evidence of their therapeutic effects.

The joint initiative, undertaken by the University of Missouri and guided by the University of Western Cape's new International Center for Indigenous Phyto-therapy Studies, includes as collaborative members the Medical Research Council and the medical schools of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and University of Cape Town.

"Are they safe and do they work?" are questions researchers, medical doctors and traditional healers in the project will probe, said professor Quinton Johnson, the Western Cape center's co-director. The focus will involve plants already in use, said Johnson, noting that at least 3,000 of South Africa's 21,000 unique plant species are used as traditional therapies.

The project has already begun a trial of the Sutherlandia plant, traditionally used in a variety of health tonics, among healthy volunteers. In addition to studying Sutherlandia's safety, researchers hope to assess its efficacy in curbing weight loss among patients' in the initial stages of HIV infection.

However, Johnson stated, "We want to be very clear… that we are not looking at substituting other medicines [such as antiretroviral AIDS drugs] with any of these plant remedies."

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