The Kenyan plant specialist making the case for traditional African medicine

This forum is not used to discuss scientific research and whether the claims can be proven in a controlled experiment.

“We do not validate this information,” says Vitalis Ochieng, Ticah’s senior programme manager, emphasising that the point is for people to share what they know.

The organisation’s key mandate is to show the value of traditional medicine and amplify the voices of those who practice it, he adds.

One of the things hampering the wider adoption of traditional medicine in Kenya is that there is no government policy encouraging its safe use.

Mr Ochieng argues that indigenous knowledge could be the basis for scientific research, adding that in countries like China, traditional medicine is accepted and even exported as “alternative medicine”.

He is campaigning for traditional medicines to be regulated and standardised in Kenya, legislation that has been in the works for several years.

At the moment so-called “herbal clinics”, many selling poor quality remedies, have given traditional medicine a bad name, something experts in the East African nation acknowledge.

There have been problems with fraudsters, as well as the deliberate or accidental contamination of the products, says Dr Ruth Nyangacha, the deputy director of Centre for Traditional Medicine Research (CTMDR) – a government agency that advises the health ministry on traditional medicine.

She tells the BBC this is especially risky for patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, as they often turn to these remedies, partly because of cost but also as they are easier to get hold of in remote areas.

At her first plant talk at the museum, businesswoman Joyce Ng’ang’a says she turned to traditional medicine as she found conventional medication had not helped her condition.

In fact the drugs she was prescribed after her diagnosis with chronic stomach acid reflux eight years ago had had side effects like making her forgetful.

Even a trip to India for treatment had not helped – which is why she says she sought out herbal remedies.

“I have never found a reason to go back to them,” she enthused, referring to the conventional medicine she has now abandoned.

It is a course of action that doctors would not recommend over safety concerns, but Ms Ng’ang’a says she hopes her experience will mean traditional herbal therapies will eventually become formalised.