Founder of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), Kojo Yankah, has called on African leaders to rise and attempt to develop herbal medicines to tackle the coronavirus and stop the over-reliance on the West for vaccines.

He said he is still waiting for the day authorities will announce that the first herbal medicine for clinical trials for the treatment of Covid-19, has been approved in Africa.

In a Facebook post, he said “African Media: I am still waiting for Ghanaian/African media HEADLINE BREAKING NEWS that Ghana’s FDA has approved ‘the first herbal medicine for Clinical Trials for the TREATMENT of COVID-19?.

“Rather I am reading headlines suggesting Vaccines are on the way! Oh, Africa, when can we BELIEVE in ourselves! Wake Up Africa! 80% of our people have survived thousands of years on Traditional Herbal Medicine, which we shamefully call ‘alternative medicine’.”

His comments come after the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on Monday, February 1, announced in a statement that it has approved the first herbal medicine for a clinical trial on the coronavirus treatment in the country.

The statement said the “School of Public Health at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST), submitted a clinical trial application in September 2020.”

“The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), The National Medicine Regulatory Agency (NMRA) in Ghana, has approved a herbal medicine, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, locally known as Nibima for clinical trials in January 2021.”

It added “In the search for a treatment for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the School of Public Health at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST), submitted a clinical trial application in September 2020 to assess the safety and efficacy of Cryptolepis sanguinolenta as a potential treatment for COVID-19. This follows results from laboratory studies conducted by the KNUST research team which points in the direction of possible clinical benefits.”

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that vaccines for the coronavirus will arrive in the country by March this year.