Herbal Medicine In The Philippines

For centuries, medicinal plants are used in treating human diseases for they have a therapeutic value and they play a beneficial role in health care. Presently, majority of medications originated from ancient herbal traditions. In the development of medicine, many of the plant-based traditional medicines were founded long time ago that helped in making observations (Valle, D. L. et al, 2015). According to World Health Organization (WHO), the best source to obtain a variety of drugs lies on medicinal plants. The uses of traditional medicine are widely used in developed countries by 80% of individuals. In line with this, investigations of such plants are needed to better recognize safety, efficiency, and properties they possess (Nascimento,

However, most of these claims lack scientific validation. The use of herbal medicines in the pre-Spanish era had been widespread, although its documentation was only initiated during the Spanish occupation, with the main practitioners being called the mediquillos (herbal scientists) or herbolarios (Quisumbing, E., 1951). In 1997, the Philippine Government passed Republic Act 8423, also known as the “Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act of 1997,” an act creating the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care to accelerate the development of traditional and alternative health care in the Philippines. Most noteworthy objectives include “the encouragement of scientific research on traditional and alternative health care systems that have direct impact on public health care, and the promotion of the use of traditional, alternative, preventive and curative health care modalities that have been proven safe, effective, cost-effective, and they are consistent with government standards on medical

The spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria in hospital and community settings remains a widely unresolved problem and a heavy burden to health services. Despite advances in antibiotic therapy, infectious complications remain an important cause of mortality and morbidity among hospitalized patients. Although medical practitioners can resort to second- or third-choice drugs for treating these patients, the use of these synthetic drugs may subject the patient to a higher risk, due to the possibility of the drugs producing more harmful side effects (Valle, D. L. et al,