Scientists are putting an herbal remedy from Madagascar, purported to cure COVID-19, to the test.Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, in Potsdam, are collaborating with a U.S. company, ArtemiLife, to test an extract from the plant Artemisia annuaMadagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina drinks a sample of the “COVID Organics” or CVO remedy at a launch ceremony in Antananarivo on April 20, 2020. (Photo by RIJASOLO / AFP)The controversial plant mixture first came to prominence when Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina announced it had been shown to treat the coronavirus. He said he considered it a “miracle cure.” The herbal medicine has also been used for treatment of malaria.“The patients who have healed have taken no other product than COVID-Organics,” Rajoelina said, speaking in French to France 24. “The patients tend to heal [in] seven to 10 days,” Rajoelina added when asked for evidence. More than 20 African countries have placed orders for what is now dubbed “COVID-Organics,” including the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.No evidenceDespite Madagascar’s exports of the herbal medicine to several countries, doubts remain. Professor Stanley Okolo, the director-general of the West Africa Health Organization, part of the regional Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, sounded a note of caution on VOA’s Daybreak Africa radio program. “We have not seen the evidence of the research,” he said. “I have heard that it has cured two people, and for us in the medical field and in the health profession, we need evidence before we can support a cure.”There has been additional skepticism coming from the World Health Organization and other prominent health bodies. “Seventy traditional medicine experts from countries across Africa held a virtual meeting with the WHO on the role of traditional medicine in the COVID19 response,” WHO’s regional office for Africa tweeted on May 12. “They unanimously agreed that clinical trials must be conducted for all medicines in the Region, without exception.”70 traditional medicine experts from countries across #Africa held a virtual meeting with @WHO on the role of traditional medicine in the #COVID19 response. They unanimously agreed that clinical trials must be conducted for all medicines in the Region, without exception. pic.twitter.com/fCKYiYiMqb— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) May 12, 2020Denis Chopera, a virologist working in South Africa, said that, since there are no side effects, the herb can’t cause harm, but people shouldn’t presume it is a miracle cure. “People are taking immune boosters and so on,” he said on VOA’s English-to-Africa’s radio and TV programs. “So, I don’t think there’s any harm, but I don’t think people should expect that it will treat them and cure COVID-19 because that has not been proven scientifically.”This story originated in the Africa Division with reporting contributions from VOA’s English-to-Africa’s James Butty and Jason Patinkin.
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