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Turning Up the Volume for Precision Herbal Medicine in Africa in an Era of COVID-19 and Planetary Biodiversity Loss

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dc.contributor.author Thomford, Nicholas Ekow
dc.contributor.author Yahaya, Ewura Seidu
dc.contributor.author Ekor, Martins
dc.date.accessioned 2023-10-10T19:23:04Z
dc.date.available 2023-10-10T19:23:04Z
dc.date.issued 2020
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/9229
dc.description.abstract What would it take in terms of the structural reforms in science, technology, and culture to cultivate sustainable therapeutic and preventive medicine innovations against zoonotic infections such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the 21st century? In May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services warned that ‘‘around one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinc- tion.’’ Biodiversity is essential for drug discovery and development. We are currently facing a dual challenge in therapeutics innovation with COVID-19 and loss in planetary biodiversity. Hence, there is an urgent need for new ideas and strategies for drug discovery as well as repurposed drugs for the COVID-19 pandemic. To these ends, the existing scholarship in, and the field of precision herbal medicine provide an alternative source for discovery of novel therapeutics against the novel coronavirus. We propose that the application of precision herbal medicine in Africa could usefully contribute to current efforts for therapeutics innovation for the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond. The pandemic calls for interdisciplinary dialogue and turning up the volume for precision herbal medicine in Africa, and importantly, in ways informed by robust systems science as well as broad public engagement to codesign medicines in the 21st century. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology en_US
dc.subject precision herbal medicine en_US
dc.subject COVID-19 en_US
dc.subject African traditional herbal medicine en_US
dc.subject biodiversity en_US
dc.subject planetary health en_US
dc.subject drug discovery en_US
dc.title Turning Up the Volume for Precision Herbal Medicine in Africa in an Era of COVID-19 and Planetary Biodiversity Loss en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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