Traditional and Herbal Medicines: Opportunities and Challenges

Background: Since ancient times natural herbs were extensively used for the treatment and prevention of various ailments and in past few decades, due to an extensive research in traditional system of medicine various herbal medicines have been developed for the prevention and treatment of diseases, which are environmentally, organically safe and inexpensive. Indian sub-continent has a good capability to tackle the task of meeting the worldwide demand for such products due to its rich wealth in case of herbal medicine. Historically, Indian people conventionally played a vital role in the development and management of these biological sources and also preserve their pertinent data that were accumulated via trial and error over centuries. Objectives: Due to tremendous global resurgence in traditional and alternative healthcare systems, the market for herbal medicines has grown at an impressive rate and therefore has great economic importance. However, the primary barriers to the expansion of herbal medicine include biodiversity loss, over-exploitation and improper use of medicinal plants, industrialization, biopiracy, and a lack of regulation and infrastructure. For the expansion of herbal medicine usage in the twenty-first century, conservation, proper research based on traditional knowledge, quality control of herbal medicine, and correct documentation are required. Methods: The desired and encouraging testifying items for systematically evaluated reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) standards were opted. A literature exploration was accomplished utilizing SCIENCE DIRECT, SCOPUS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR to locate articles for the present scenario about traditional and herbal medicines. Conclusion: The availability and type of conventional medicine safety and effectiveness data are far from sufficient to fulfil the requirements required to support its use globally. This review paper examines the restrictions and issues associated with conservation, science and technology, regulatory constraints, potential usage of herbal medicines, the drug production industry, safety and efficacy, and the prospects for traditional remedies on a nationally and internationally scale.

Key words: Traditional medicines, Herbal medicines, Healthcare system, Regulatory constraints, Traditional Knowledge, Quality control.