-
- “There is the need for international
pharmaceutical companies and firms to put their expertise and funds in
support of African Traditional Herbal
- Practitioners as they work towards finding a
herbal preparation for HIV/AIDS. This is because there is enough
evidence to support the potential in
- some herbal preparations which can be
developed. However, lack of financial support is definitely affecting
serious research on herbal medicine….
- If the pharmaceutical companies can provide
financial and technical assistance to herbal practitioners, I believe
strongly that research into traditional
- medicine in Africa could yield positive results.”
Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, Director General of Ghana AIDS Commission, 2nd
Global Summit on
- HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine & Indigenous
Knowledge, Accra, Ghana, March 10-14, 2008.
-
“Research institutes and university professionals knowledgeable both
about local conditions and about intellectual property and contract law
principles
- can
work on the basis of trust and personal relationships with the
traditional healer communities, and on the basis of intellectual
property and contract
- law
with pharmaceutical companies, to provide access to the identified
traditional plant remedies, with a view toward creating the conditions
for equitable
- sharing
of benefits of commercially successful new drugs with the traditional
communities that provided the initial leads for bioprospectors. It is
also
- asserted
that applicable laws on the national
level
need to be in place before an international regime for the protection of
traditional knowledge and genetic
- resources
can be established.” Professor William O. Hennessey, Chair,
Intellectual Property Graduate Program, Franklin Pearce Law Center,
Concord,
-
New Hampshire, USA,
2nd
Global Summit on HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine & Indigenous Knowledge,
Ghana, March 10-14, 2008.
-
-
3rd Global Summit on
HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine & Indigenous Knowledge - August 2009
-
In Celebration of Sixth
African Traditional Medicine Day
-
The influence of
European colonial domination of, and the practice of slavery in Africa,
Asia, Australia, North America, South America and New Zealand has helped
to disrupt the lives, ancient beliefs, customs and practices of the
civilizations that had existed in these regions of the world.
-
-
The two
significant outcomes of the events that attended colonization and
slavery are that while the political, economic, social and cultural
interests of Europe and afterwards, America, were advanced, the
political, economic and social needs of those they colonized and
dominated, have been left to decay, and to this day, they suffer from
illiteracy, poverty, diseases and psychological setbacks.
-
-
In societies where
the colonial settlers co-exist with natives and freed slaves, there
persists a culture of absolute economic and social segregation,
discrimination, injustice and inequality against natives and freed
slaves. It is a world in which the natives and freed slaves are
marginalized to the extent that they have been perpetually deprived of
their lands, voices, beliefs and customs; they have no say in
decisions affecting their existence and welfare.
-
-
After two world
wars from which the United Nations and its branches have emerged
supposedly as pillars of peace, inspiration and progress for the world;
and the rapid advancements brought about by science in medicine and
technology to improve the life of mankind, the world is more than ever
confronted by bitter wars, genocides, refugee crisis, drought,
starvation, emerging and incurable diseases, human-trafficking, drug
addiction, religious violence and environmental pollution.
-
-
A cycle of massive
cross-emigration of people from one place to the other to avoid the
pangs of war, persecution, hunger and to seek self-advancement
dangerously persists. These trends are propelling a rapid growth in
inter-racial marriages, mixed races and crossed-cultures in developed
countries. The result is an explosion of minority populations who
already are suffering from illiteracy, poverty, diseases and a surge
in cultural and religious conflicts.
-
-
There is so much
confusion in the world today than yesterday, to the extent that one cannot tell what is
really true and what is not. The time has now come for the people of the
world to begin to reflect on what to do to save ourselves from total
destruction. We must act now.
-
-
It is very
important for every one to acknowledge that all men are born equal and
none is superior above the other. It is crucial to accept the fact that
each person has a distinctive purpose to fulfill for the common good of
all while on this earth. Like a head to a body, and a finger to the arm,
neither the body nor the arm can function without the head or a finger.
The inherent best of each one of us resides within our ability to serve
one another without prejudice and to freely share at all times. And the
best in each one of us can only manifest in love, equal respect, equal
justice and equal opportunity for all, irrespective of color, creed or
race.
-
-
There is an urgent
need for constant global dialogue and collaboration between modern and
ancient knowledge in all the disciplines of life, with the ultimate goal
of selflessly sharing, educating, healing and empowering each other in
order to perpetually break down the iron curtains of prejudice,
segregation, discrimination, injustice and inequality, which are
bleeding the world to death.
-
-
This is the only way the world will once
again find its path to absolute nourishment, good health, peace and
fulfillment. And this is what Africa First, LLC and its collaborators
around the world strive to achieve.
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