Covid-19 Herbal Cure : African Union defies WHO's warning, contacs Madagascar for CovidOrganic

By Dansu Peter 

In defiance to the warning of the World's Health Organization, WHO, the African Union has opened discussions with Madagascar aimed at exploring the safety and efficiency of a herbal remedy purported to cure COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning against people using untested remedies for coronavirus.

It's no longer news that  Madagascar had launched Covid-Organics, a herbal cure vaccine to fight the COVID-19 pandemic

after conducting internal tests on the herbal remedy. 

The product has been championed by President Andry Rajoelina, who has held talks with various other African leaders in Africa to take up the remedy to aid their fight against the disease.

Countries that have expressed a willingness to acquire the drug include Comoros, the Republic of Congo and Guinea Bissau.

Now, the African Union says it will look into CovidOrganics after Rajoelina presented the medicine to other leaders from Africa in a teleconference Meeting on April 29.

“Once furnished with the details, the Union, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will review the scientific data gathered so far on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 Organics. This review will be based on global technical and ethical norms to garner the necessary scientific evidence regarding the performance of the tonic,” the African Union said.

WHO has issued a warning against people using untested remedies for coronavirus.

Africans deserve access to medicines that have gone through proper trials even if they are derived from traditional treatments, it said.

Its statement comes as Madagascar's president is promoting a herbal tonic for treating Covid-19 patients.

The African Union (AU) said it wanted to see the scientific data on the "safety and efficacy" of the product.

The tonic, known as Covid-Organics, was tested on fewer than 20 people over three weeks, a presidential aide told the BBC - which is not in line with WHO guidelines on clinical trials.

This can be a lengthy process in which a potential drug is tested in four phases, scaling up from a trial on a small number of patients to using it on a population countrywide.

Despite these reservations, several African countries, including Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia, have already ordered Covid-Organics, which is produced from the artemisia plant - the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment - and other Malagasy plants.

Last week, Madagascar's President, Andry Rajoelina, spoke to an online meeting of African leaders about the tonic.

Following that meeting the AU asked to see more details about Covid-Organics which could be reviewed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).