Joyce Namugambe
Buganda Kingdom has signed an open memorandum of understanding with the National Drug Authority to help promote the use of herbal medicine in an ethical way to benefit the Ugandans who use it and at the same time help in conservation of the environment.
According to the Chairman of NDA Doctor Medard Bitekyerezo, there is an increasing rate of drug misuse especially among the youth, showing one of the reasons why they have joined the kingdom to come out and educate the public about the use of drugs, since the kingdom has more audience.
Doctor Bitekyerezo has commended the King for giving them a chance to work with the kingdom, and noted that continuous cutting down of trees in the country including medicinal trees has made things hard for effective making of herbal medicines yet over 70% of people in the country use traditional medicine even before going to hospitals for treatment. He has therefore appealed to the Katikkiro of Buganda to lead the kingdom and join the struggle to educate the public about the need to conserve the environment.
He has expressed concern over people who buy drugs from hawkers without knowing their sources and appealed to the public to be careful with the drugs they use, and make sure that they buy drugs from authorized outlets.
Addressing the NDA staff who had gathered in his office at Bulange Mengo, the Buganda Premier Owek. Charles Peter Mayiga appreciated NDA for the partnership and pledged to work together with them to sensitize the public about the dangers of self-medication since it has caused more harm than good to people’s health.
Owek. Mayiga has also revealed to NDA that the kingdom has already started on the move to encourage the public grow more trees through different occasions such as Kwanjula, and the kibira kya kabaka project which promotes planting of more trees. He noted that the Kingdom is to work together with NDA to ensure the promotion of tree planting which will help both environmental conservation and availability of medicinal trees.
He has expressed concern over herbalists who mislead people through fixing strict and tricky conditions on their medicines which has affected people through making them fall into the herbalists’ traps on basis of satisfying their conditions.
However, Owek. Mayiga has cautioned the NDA to disseminate information about drugs in effective languages depending on the regions so that people can get the messages in an understandable manner hence achieving their goals.
The minister of health in Buganda Kingdom Owek. Cotilda Nakate expressed the need in regulating the standards of herbal medicine to make it effective. She as well pledged on behalf of the kingdom to work together with Buganda leaders at different levels to sensitize the public about the importance of planting trees.
In the same way, the Secretary for NDA David Nahamya has expressed gratitude towards working with the kingdom for the betterment of people’s health since it’s their mandate to make sure that the population of Uganda receives good quality drugs which are efficacious and cost effective for human health.
The memorandum of understanding has been signed by Owek Cotilda Nakate on behalf of Buganda Kingdom and Doctor David Nahamya on behalf of the National Drug Authority.
