NNMDA seeks research, regulation to make traditional medicine key to universal health coverage
By Chioma Obinna
The Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, NNMDA, on Monday called for sustained research, regulation and documentation of traditional medicine practices to enable Nigeria harness the sector’s potential in achieving universal health coverage.
The Director-General of NNMDA, Prof Martins Emeje, made the call at the 2026 African Traditional Medicine Day health walk and conference, with the theme: “Reflection on Research and Development Efforts of Traditional Medicine Towards Achieving Universal Health Coverage in the African Region.”
Emeje said Nigeria could not achieve medicine security or universal health coverage by neglecting its rich traditional medicine resources, stressing that research and development remained critical to transforming indigenous knowledge into safe and effective healthcare solutions.
He said: “Any country that underrates or does not prioritise research and development of its own natural resources towards getting local medicines will suffer from medicine insecurity.
“The beauty of natural medicine is that our food is the raw materials, the building blocks to making our medicines. Development of natural medicine means we are ensuring good food and medicine security. And you can only do this through research and development.”
The NNMDA boss said research into traditional medicine should not be confined to laboratories, noting that valuable knowledge could also be obtained by systematically documenting the experiences of practitioners who had spent decades serving their communities.
“There are lots of research that we can do by just going to these people who have spent 30, 40 years practising traditional medicine, asking them questions, getting information, documenting it, curating it and screening it,” he said.
He disclosed that the agency had commenced digital documentation of traditional medicine practitioners, stressing that effective regulation could not be achieved without first knowing who the practitioners were, where they operated and what they practised.
“You cannot regulate properly those you don’t know. We first know these people, document them, their facilities, their personnel, what they do and their qualifications. Those that need training, we will train them,” Emeje said.
He said the agency had completed the exercise in one local government area and would expand it, adding that practitioners who failed to meet safety standards would face sanctions.
“When we train you and tell you to make sure there is no fly where you are making your medicine and we see a fly there, we remove your licence and send you to jail,” he said.
Emeje also challenged the private sector to invest in research and development of natural medicines, saying Nigeria could not continue to rely heavily on imported medicines while neglecting its indigenous resources.
He said the transformation would require sustained commitment, rather than quick results.
“All that is needed is for this momentum to be sustained for the next 25 years. We need to maintain this momentum,” he said.
The NNMDA DG said government and the private sector must invest heavily in research and development, adding that developing local medicines would strengthen health security, create jobs and reduce dependence on imports.
“The future is very bright. All we need is support, consistency and sustainability. If we do that, we will achieve our ultimate goal of ensuring universal health coverage,” he said.
Supporting the call, the World Health Organisation, WHO, Head of Traditional Medicine, Dr Sungchol Kim, said traditional medicine had enormous potential to contribute to the health and wellbeing of populations, particularly in Africa.
Kim said Nigeria was among countries with a rich tradition of traditional medicine, noting that the practice remained widely used globally.
He said the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy, 2025–2034, provided a framework for developing traditional medicine through evidence, regulation and appropriate integration into national health systems.
“Traditional medicine has huge potential for the health and wellbeing of people, particularly through its holistic approach and naturalness, especially for chronic conditions,” Kim said.
He urged Nigeria to strengthen documentation, quality assurance, training and licensing of traditional medicine practitioners.
“Documentation of traditional medicine practice is super important for the country,” he said, adding that practitioners should also receive training in infection prevention and control.
Kim said the ultimate objective should be to ensure that traditional medicine services integrated into healthcare systems were “safe and quality assured, and evidence-based.”
Also speaking, keynote speaker, Prof Andrew Uloko, said traditional medicine could not be integrated into healthcare merely on the basis of historical use.
“Traditional use is valuable, but traditional use alone does not prove safety or efficacy,” Uloko said.
According to him, research and development provide the bridge between traditional knowledge and evidence-based healthcare by establishing safety, efficacy, quality and standardisation.
He said the process should include documentation, botanical authentication, phytochemistry, clinical research, standardisation, regulation and compliance.
“Research is the bridge between tradition and the modern healthcare system. It asks critical questions: Does this work? Is it safe? What is the appropriate preparation? Can the quality be consistently assured?”
Uloko warned against both the uncritical acceptance and outright rejection of traditional medicine.
“The pathway forward is neither blind acceptance nor automatic dismissal. It is responsible, evidence-based development,” he said.
He called on government to increase funding for traditional medicine research, strengthen regulatory authorities and build Nigeria’s capacity in toxicology and clinical research.
“We must increase funding for traditional medicine research and development. We must build our capacity in toxicology and clinical research. This agency needs to be more empowered than it is already,” Uloko said.
He also urged closer collaboration among traditional medicine practitioners, scientists, clinicians, researchers, regulators and manufacturers.
“There is no single discipline that can take traditional remedy from community knowledge to the health system. We must all put our heads together and work together as a team,” he said.
A Kenyan youth advocate for traditional medicine, Fiona Njeri, said traditional medicine and biomedicine should not be treated as competing systems.
“Traditional medicine and biomedicine don’t have to exist in competition,” she said, stressing the need to combine indigenous knowledge with science, research, safety, evidence and accountability.
Njeri called for greater collaboration among African countries to document, protect and responsibly develop traditional medicine knowledge.
Also speaking, Chief Temitayo Erogbogbo, who represented traditional leaders, said community institutions had an important role in preserving indigenous healthcare knowledge.
He said: “We need to be able to document and keep these practices. Otherwise, we are at risk of losing them.”
The speakers agreed that Africa’s traditional medicine sector could contribute significantly to universal health coverage if supported by rigorous research, effective regulation, proper documentation, quality control and collaboration between traditional practitioners and conventional healthcare professionals.