Traditional healers, through their association, AGA Rwanda Network, have appealed to the Government to help improve their skills and enhance their role in the country’s health system.

Gertulde Nyirahabineza, the president of AGA Rwanda Network, their main challenge lies in the inability to process quality herbal drugs

Speaking on Sunday during the closure of a three-day course on ethics for 50 traditional healers at the Institute of Applied Sciences (INES) Ruhengeri, Nyirahabineza noted that regular trainings were the remedy to challenges within their profession.

"Processing drugs from herbs is a challenge that we all have in common,” she said.

Due to the inability to make quality herbal drugs, she added, traditional medicine struggles to certification.   

"We believe we can as well export our traditional medicine once well trained as most of us have never learnt this profession,” added Nyirahabineza.

Dominique Mvunabandi, the Director Science, Technology and Innovation Unit at the national commission for UNESCO, promised continued capacity building for traditional healers for them to win public trust.

Officials from the National Research at National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) say the agency is setting up a laboratory which will help put the Rwanda traditional medicine on the international level in the near future.

Official figures indicate that there are over 14,000 practicing traditional healers across the country yet only 3,000 are registered to operate legally.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com