NEWS
African herb to fight Aids - SAPA - March 14 2001

While the battle between pharmaceutical companies and the government about medicine prices continues, traditional healers called for a fair investigation into their claim that an indigenous herb could dramatically improve the condition of Aids patients, if not cure them.

People whom doctors had sent home to die, had a dramatic recovery due to the herb Sutherlandia, in Afrikaans known as kankerbos, said Credo Mutwa, a member of the executive of the Nyangazezizwe Traditional Healers' Organisation of South Africa.

"I don't claim this is the cure, but what it does to people is amazing. Men and women who have been sent home to die are alive now because of an ancient African herb," said Mutwa in Pretoria.

Mutwa referred reporters to Dr Nigel Gerlicka, who, with other scientists and Mutwa's help, is researching the medicinal qualities of the plant. Gerlicka said it was a general tonic which improved many conditions associated with people living with Aids, including their quality of life.

A pilot trial would also be conducted in South Africa. - Sapa Charlene Smith, Johannesburg South Africa

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