Local ‘viagra’ Gondolosi can boost Malawi economy: Mzuni lecturer upbeat on ‘optimization of traditional medicine’

Senior lecturer in the department of chemistry at Mzuzu University (Mzuni) John Kamanula has expressed optimism that optimizing traditional medicine such as a herbal aphrodisiac ‘Gondolosi’ (mondia whitei) and others would be a plus in boosting Malawi’s ailing economy.

Kamanula said Friday at Mzuni during a public lecturer presentation, Optimization of Indigenous Knowledge: ‘A Case Study of Traditional Medicine and Botanical Pesticides’  that purportedly sought of bringing to limelight debate on what escapades can be brought forth to get economic benefits from local medicine.

During the lecture, it was also revealed that another local medicine, Mvunguti, has great healing powers for hypertension.

Kamanula said it was no longer a far-fetched idea that “Malawians, both in middle and low classes were taking them in abundance.”

His lecture revealed, for example, that ‘gondolosi’ has impeccable “economic value”, arguing that Malawi’s  traditional version of the anti-impotence pill Viagra, a herbal treatment  called Gondolosi, could be a hit in Western nations.

Said Kamanula: “I currently know of a Malawian woman who plies her ‘gondolosi’ trade in South Africa.”

He stated that if  the West  sells viagra at high prices, Malawi can do the same with Gondolosi, which can boost the economy.

But participants during the public lecture admitted “little was being done to make the plant more beneficial.”

Kamanula argued, however, that the problem was lack of a “sound policy” to optimize the local medicines and “lack of capacity building.”

He added: “We need safety studies and effectiveness of traditional medicines, safety studies and information management to make progress.”

Kamanula hoped for “support from government and interested stakeholders” in such kinds of research.

Gondolosi, scientifically known as Mondia whytei, is a shrub that grows  throughout the country. Herbalists use the shrub’s bark and root to make a  powder, or sell the entire root, in most urban markets.

Malawi Traditional Healers Organisation (Mthuo) representative Dr Kasasula Kayira, who attended the lecture, confessed the significant problem they faced in dealing with the aphrodisiac was “prescriptions.”

He said government must do more in “enlightening them on traditional medicines.”

If optimized, the lecture participants agreed, gondolosi would help increase revenue tax base through exports and local taxes.

A call was made for the country to remove the veil of secrecy about this herb
in order to cash in on the export market.

Malawi is one of the poorest nation in the world according to a recent study.

Recetntly, a lawmaker Boniface Kadzamira revived a debate in parliament when he recommended
the country should start growing marijuana (Indian Hemp), for non-narcotic purposes.

Malawian cannabis is renowned in the region as one of the best available,  although it is illegal to grow, smoke or deal in it.

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