Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
approximately 6 million HIV infections over 3 years in men, women and children. This would
reduce the health care costs (excluding the cost of antiretroviral therapy) by 3.2 billion US dollars.
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Vaginal microbicides allow women to have more control in the application of the product, which
would help to address social difficulties that women can face when having to negotiate condom use
with their partner. A major advantage of microbicides is that women can utilize them without neces-
sarily obtaining the consent of their partner.
In the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, herbs are considered safe
and effective preventive and therapeutic products. Herbal microbicides as vaginal inserts can pro-
vide better protection than standard prevention tools, since they offer 'bidirectional' protection (i.e.
protection to both partners) and offer greater control over the risk of exposure to STDs. Traditional
birth attendants (TBA) and midwives are known to administer highly specialized herbs in the form
of the vaginal/uterine washes during traditional birth delivery and it has been suggested that the
procedure could be adopted as low cost complementary intervention method to reduce the risk
of perinatal transmission of HIV if used on HIV-positive women during childbirth (InterCEDD-
BDCP Report).
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The vaginal route of administration offers additional advantage for the delivery
of locally acting drugs such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antiviral, labor-inducing and
spermicidal agents, prostaglandins and steroids. This route of administration offers several phar-
macokinetic advantages over the oral route for the delivery of hormonal contraceptives owing to the
lack of drug interactions observed in the gastrointestinal tract. The vagina also has great potential
for systemic delivery because of its large surface area, rich blood supply and permeability to a wide
range of compounds.
The most commonly used vaginal dosage forms (VDFs) include creams, gels, tablets, capsules,
pessaries, foams, ointments, films, tampons, vaginal rings and douches. In traditional African med-
icine, some herbal medicinal preparations are used as vaginal inserts and packs by midwives and
traditional birth attendants for the treatment of local infections and uterine complications. These
herbal vaginal formulations have been used for the treatment of candidiasis, trichomoniasis, bacte-
rial and senile vaginitis.
Medicinal plants used in the preparation of herbal microbicides include:
•
Cassia alata
•
Azadirachta indica
•
Scutellaria baicalensis
•
Aframomum danielli
•
Enantia chlorantha
•
Cryptolepis sanguinolenta
•
Dracaena mannii
•
Garcinia kola
•
Combretum dulchipetalum
•
Hoslundia opposita
•
Chasmanthera dependens
Herbs with anti-trichomoniasis activity include:
•
Aspilia africana
•
Combretum dulchipetalum
•
Enantia chlorantha
•
Hoslundia opposita
•
Mormodica charanta
•
Cleitopholis patens
•
Picralima nitida
•
Dracaena mannii
