Africa’s ‘traditional medicines’ get own mobile app

The application, which has been developed by Shujaa Solutions, has inbuilt mechanism that can capture sounds as well as text entry.

The developers say M-Ganga will assist in capturing the details of herbal medicines that are in use in Kenya, in a bid to document the medicinal herbs.

Michael Wakae, the Director Shujaa Solutions, told Humanipo that most of the information on medicinal herbs can be extinct in future, as the educated-modern generation replace older generation with the know-how.

“All children go to school in their childhood and later work in town which deny old men chance to share the information,” said Wakae.

The app is said to capture the names of the herbs, pictures, what a particular herb is used for, the prescriptions and the locality a particular herb can be found.

Wakae said if someone will not take the responsibility to document these information, Africa stands to lose vital information that could be passed on through generations.

According to Wakae, the idea was born out of a concept paper presented by a Kenyan PhD student at the University of Cape Town.br />
“We found out the paper by Shikoh Gitau, it was a great idea and we wanted to make it practical. With her permission, we set out to develop the application,” said Wakae.

Wakae and his colleagues, Martin Wachira and Maureen Jepchumba, have now completed over 80 percent of the application and are looking forward to a positive uptake by the users.

The major challenges will however be on how to popularize the application. The three look forward to the services of well-wishers to capture and upload the information in the absence of enough manpower and finance.

Over 80 percent of Africa’s populations have consulted traditional medicine men and it is a art that is passed down from one generation to another through apprenticeship and oral tradition that ought to be preserved, WHO says.

The application was on demonstration at ongoing Open Innovation Africa Summit (OIS) in Nairobi.