The World Health Organization (WHO), led by Ms. Shenaaz El-Halabi, recently met with Professor Motlalepula Matsabisa from the University of the Free State—an expert in African Traditional Medicine (ATM) and co-chair of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Summit Steering Committee. The discussion focused on collaborating to incorporate ATM into mainstream health systems, boosting its global visibility, and developing policies and investments to support its integration.

South Africa’s leadership in this initiative highlights the country’s role in positioning African Traditional Medicine as a key part of the journey toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This partnership underscores a broader movement to recognize and leverage indigenous medicinal knowledge, combining traditional practices with modern healthcare approaches.

As these efforts advance, they promise to enhance health outcomes, promote cultural heritage, and foster innovative research—placing Africa at the forefront of global traditional medicine development.

Prof. Motlalepula Matsabisa, a distinguished expert in African Traditional Medicine and pharmacology researcher at the University of the Free State (UFS), has recently been elected as co-chairperson of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Traditional Medicine Summit steering committee. Alongside Dr. Goh Cheng Soon from Malaysia, Prof. Matsabisa will lead the committee, which is tasked with organizing the upcoming summit scheduled for later this year in New Delhi, India.

The one-year steering committee comprises 15 members from diverse countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Its primary role is to advise the WHO on the summit’s program, recommend session topics and speakers, and help shape the exhibition showcasing traditional medicine practices worldwide.

Prof. Matsabisa, who is also the Director of the African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development (AMITD) platform at UFS, currently chairs the WHO Africa Regional Expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicine (REACT). His appointment as co-chair signifies a global recognition of his leadership in traditional medicine.

Expressing his honor at the new responsibility, Prof. Matsabisa emphasized that he now chairs a worldwide group of experts from all six WHO regions, including Africa, the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific. The committee will collaborate with WHO to develop the summit’s agenda, organize sessions around global health priorities, and highlight traditional medicine’s role in achieving universal health coverage, sustainable development, and health resilience.

The summit’s theme, “Restoring balance for people and planet: The science and practice of health and well-being,” aims to attract approximately 6,000 attendees, with 1,000 in-person and 5,000 online participants. The event will build on the 2023 Gujarat Declaration, focusing on leadership, research, evidence, biodiversity, and sustainable practices in traditional medicine.

Prof. Matsabisa sees this role as an opportunity to further promote UFS’s AMITD program on a global stage, attract new collaborators and funding, and foster innovations in traditional medicine. He plans to serve as a vital link between WHO headquarters in Geneva and the committee, ensuring the summit’s success.

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The University of the Free State (UFS) will form the backdrop for the G20 Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG) and G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB) meetings on 23 and 24 February 2024.

UFS has, over the years, distinguished itself as a leader in the research and development, particularly in the biodiversity space through its African Medicines, Innovations and Technologies Development (AMITD) platform, which was established in collaboration with the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and its entity, the Technology Innovation Agency. It was therefore an obvious choice for the institution to again partner with the DSTI to host the G20 meetings.

The G20 is an international forum comprising many of the world’s largest developing and developed economies, established to tackle pressing global economic and financial issues.

South Africa holds the G20 Presidency this year – only five years before the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development deadline. This is the first time the G20 is being hosted on African soil.

South Africa’s presidency takes place when the world is facing a series of overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises, including climate change, underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger, unemployment, technological changes, and geopolitical instability.

The G20 RIWG provides a platform for addressing global challenges through research, technology and innovation. The DSTI will lead the RIWG under the leadership of Minister Blade Nzimande and explore this year’s theme, “Equity-based science, technology and innovation for inclusive human development and global sustainability”.

Prof. Nzimande, along with Prof. Hester Klopper, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UFS, will both deliver opening remarks at the meeting.

The session on 23 February will be the first to include G20 officials engaging with indigenous knowledge holders, students and researchers in the bioeconomy.

Prof. Motlalepula Matsabisa, Director of Pharmacology and AMITD at UFS, says the university was an excellent choice to host the sessions because of its trusted relationships with indigenous communities and focus on inclusive research and development.

The G20 dialogues aim to be inclusive and provide a space for members of the public to voice their aspirations and to capture their needs around the indigenous knowledge and biodiversity in which they play an integral role.

“I am honoured to be part of this global event. I am so happy that AMITD is now globally recognised. We will exhibit our research conducted with communities on the internationalisation of South African science research in traditional medicines and biodiversity, and its formal commercialisation,” said Prof. Matsabisa.

“We are the leader in traditional medicines research and development.

“South Africa always leads in global debates and sets the stage for African views to be heard. We will contribute to policies on global biodiversity and bioeconomy and commercialisation of our natural resources through equity, sustainability and solidarity.

Prof. Matsabisa believes this event will also highlight the goals of the DSTI’s 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation and the implementation of its 2022-2032 Decadal Plan.

He hopes to see tangible and meaningful outcomes from the G20 discussions that will be implemented by the USA when it takes over the G20 Presidency for 2026.

14 AUGUST 2023 | STORY ANDRÉ DAMONS | PHOTO ANDRÉ DAMONS

Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, an African traditional medicine expert and Director of the Department of Pharmacology, will attend the summit after being invited to serve as a member of the Summit External Advisory Group for the WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit, as well as in his capacity as co-chair of the WHO Global Traditional Medicines Centre and as chair of the WHO Regional Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19. Prof Matsabisa will deliver a presentation on traditional medicines and intellectual property in a session titled ‘Regulations, intellectual property and implementation: Ensuring patient safety and economic efficiency in developing and adopting innovations in TM to healthcare’.

The WHO will hold its Traditional Medicine Global Summit on 17 and 18 August 2023 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, alongside the G20 health ministerial meeting. The summit is organised by the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine collaborating closely with WHO major offices.

Tea, medicine, and laboratories on show

Vusi Paul Ncume, a master’s student in pharmacology and practicing traditional health practitioner, and Tebogo Machethe, Director for Innovation and Contracts in the UFS Directorate of Research Development (DRD), will attend the summit alongside Prof Matsabisa. 

Macheche will take part in a session on ‘Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Equitable Sharing of Benefits derived from utilization of Indigenous knowledge’. The summit has also approved and supported the participation of Thobeka Kentane, an experienced traditional health practitioner with a legal background. She is also a member of the UFS Pharmacology working group of experts, headed by Prof Matsabisa, which is reviewing South Africa’s main medicines act and drafting recommendations around a regulatory framework for commercial production of South African traditional medicines. 

“We will also be exhibiting our laboratories and work undertaken in these laboratories,” Prof Matsabisa said. “More importantly, this is to showcase the science behind the products. The products we are exhibiting includes our medicines – PHELA for immune reconstitution, and now repurposed for COVID-19 and long COVID. We will also show the science and the research and development undergone to get PHELA where it is. This will include all scientific publications of PHELA.  

“Secondly, we will also exhibit our new entrants to the market – our indigenous health teas products. Pharmacology will be introducing six totally new health teas into the market, and we will showcase their medicinal benefits scientifically endorsed by the African Medicines Innovation and Technology Development Platform (AMITD) and Pharmacology. We market these teas as ‘Drinking tea for a reason, not because it is teatime’. These teas will shake the tea industry market. So, we are introducing these products into the global market.” 

Purpose of the summit

According to Prof Matsabisa, the objective of the summit is to catalyse political commitment and collective action towards the evidence- and equity-based integration and equal co-existence of traditional medicine for the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. There will be 350 WHO-invited participants and a further 200 Government of India-invited participants. The event will also be live-streamed. 

“At the end of the WHO Traditional Medicines Summit, I hope that serious and practical resolutions will be taken around the aspects of contribution of traditional medicines into integrated health, into the planetary health, as well as application in overall health and wellbeing. 

“I hope to see more serious attention being given to traditional medicines research support, traditional medicine’s contribution to health systems and traditional medicine’s contribution to formal economies in Africa. I hope for the mutual acceptance of well researched, quality, safe, and effective traditional medicinal products sold and used across the six WHO regions, with little bottlenecks. India holds the current G20 Presidency, and next year the G20 Presidency is Brazil and South Africa. So, I hope that the resolutions made at the August G20 will then be carried over by the next G20 Presidency.”

Link: t https://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item/campus-news/2023/august/ufs-exhibits-products-and-services-at-who-traditional-medicine-global-summit