HEALTH FOR ALL HERBAL CLINIC
Health for All Herbal Clinic was founded in 1984 in Oworam, a village only 1 km from Pabi on the road to the district capital, Asamankese. It was established by doctor A. Normeshie, its current medical director, who graduated in India in homeopathy after attending his previous courses of study in the Volta Region of Ghana, where he was born. The high daily attendance and the success in treatment of various diseases soon attracted the attention of the Ghana Psychic and Traditional Healers Association, that in 1992 adopted the clinic as a research, documentation and training centre and appointed doctor Normeshie as a research fellow to document traditional treatments and organize programmes for healers on sanitation and the avoidance of superstition and outmoded customs in healing processes.
In 2002 he was elected president of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Healers Association (GHAFTRAM) and for the federation has since been one of the 47 members of board of the Ghana Aids Commission, a national institution aimed at mediating between international donors and local NGOs and stakeholders.
The Ghana government has been trying to integrate the traditional herbal medicine into the "official" health delivery system, following the steps of other countries like India and China, but the task is not easy. Traditional herbal medicine counts as the main health care delivery system in the rural areas, but the scenario is full of charlatans and self-appointed "divine healers" who advertise their products on the market without any recognized competence.
The Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong Akwapim, in the Eastern Region, is cooperating with the MOH in trying to regulate the market and distributing licences, as well as assessing the safety and untoxicity of herbal preparations.
The choice of Dr. Normeshie to operate in a small village despite the academic and official recognition and engagements is in line with his commitment for a health care system accessible affordable and beneficial to the majority of Ghanaians living in rural areas.
He therefore promoted first the INAPROHS project (Integrated Natural Products Protection & Health Services), an NGO aimed at developing and spreading traditional herbal medicine, and now, seeing the increasing cases of people reporting to his clinic for HIV related diseases, he helped them to organize themselves into a self-help association. The PROVIDENCE Association counts now 40 registered members plus numerous occasional participants (who are not regular in the attendance of the monthly meetings because of fear, embarrassment, lack of transport money etc).
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In Ghana there's a strong stigmatization of AIDS and especially in the villages, many people are HIV positive without knowing it, as they don't attend hospitals and don't go for the blood test (that is not free of charge and can be done only in the overcrowded governmental hospitals of main towns, where you might queue as well as 5 hours just to enter the laboratory), thus contributing in spreading the disease further on.
In Ghana, as in most African countries, antiretroviral drugs are too expensive for the majority of the population, and can only be purchased in a few governmental centres, and only if the count of lymphocytes CD4 is below a certain limit. The patient must bear the cost of the CD4 count test, so no wonder that most of the members of the association are not taking any ART, without even knowing their CD4 rate. Through years of research, doctor Normeshie has developed a herbal drug, called DNT 1&2 Viramin, which seems to be working as antiretroviral. The writer has personally interviewed numerous members of the association, HIV positive people who cannot afford ART and have been taking the herbal medicine for various years now: all of them seemed to be happy with it, claiming most of their health disturbs have stopped since they started with the therapy. The doctor produces it in the clinic, and distributes it free of charge to all the HIV positive people reporting there. He has applied for a grant to the Ghana Aids Commission in order to undertake a clinic evaluation of the antiretroviral capacity of the therapy, to be conducted on 10 volunteers whose CD4 and viral levels should be tested monthly for 1 year in order to scientifically test the real benefits of his medicine.
In the meantime doctor Normeshie keeps on supplying his treatment for free to all those who cannot afford the "orthodox" ART and have therefore no choice on which therapy to choose.
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The PROVIDENCE Association holds its meetings on a monthly base in the clinic premises, organizes workshops on HIV/AIDS, tries to find ways and means to help its members. In this context ANANSE VILLAGE has been (and is) helping them providing a small capital to start a micro credit project, that is currently involving 10 people. They have started various commercial activities (mostly trading or farming) and soon, thanks to this rotating credit, the money will be accessible to other five people.
Our hope is to enable all of the members to develop an income generating activity through the loans. The association is keeping the books by itself and has proven efficient and reliable in managing the payments. The sums devolved will remain to the association that in the future will decide whether to go on with the individual loans or to use it to purchase goods of common benefit for the members.
For any further information about the clinic or Providence Association, you can contact them here:
P.O. Box 95 ASAMANKESE GHANA
