COMMONWEALTH MANDATE

One of the major constraints identified at the Medicinal Plants Forum for Commonwealth Africa, an international conference held in Cape Town in 2000, was the lack of suitable technical specifications and quality control standards for African medicinal plants and herbal medicines.

The lack of such standards was considered to be a major barrier to regional and international trade and an important reason why traditional medicine has not been widely integrated into African primary health care.

Currently, despite the fact that more than 80% of Africans rely on plant based medicine, governments in only a handful of African countries give official recognition and support to this important sector.

THE CENTURION DECLARATION

A total of 28 experts on African herbal medicines from 17 different countries gathered at the Centurion Lake Hotel in the Republic of South Africa from May 13th to 15th 2005, to review the problems and prospects of developing international trading and quality control standards for Africa’s most important medicinal plants.

In a historic decision, delegates at the meeting signed the Centurion Declaration, pledging Africa-wide support for the establishment of an association dedicated exclusively to the preparation of such standards and the development of an African Herbal Pharmacopoeia.

The organisation, known as AAMPS – Association for African Medicinal Plants Standards, has its headquarters in Mauritius.

Membership – whilst initially drawn from the signatories of the Centurion Declaration – now embraces many others dedicated to similar goals.

SIGNATORIES TO THE CENTURION DECLARATION