Boniface Ndura (left), owner of Kitale Nature Conservancy in Trans Nzoia County, distributes herbal medicine from a tree found in his botanical garden on October, 2011.

Kemri acting Chief Executive Offcer and Director-General ElijahSongok said for a long time, the agency has been leading the questto mainstream herbal medicine.
Speaking in Eldoret during a visit to the Eldoret Kemri branch atDaima Towers on Saturday, Prof Songok said due to nationaldemand, the institution has entered into an agreement with thehospital to establish a traditional medicine research centre to offerherbal medicine.

Accompanied by National Assembly Health Committeechairperson Dr Robert Pukose, Prof Songok said the herbalmedicine department at Mbagathi hospital will work with Kemri."At Mbagathi hospital, we have a Kemri facility to start piloting theuse of traditional medicines for patients who prefer that," said ProfSongok.
He said the pilot facility will help in the treatment of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension
“In Kemri we have a very dedicated research centre just fortraditional medicines, we are signing an MoU with MbagathiDistrict Hospital in Nairobi to see if we can establish a side by side afacility for traditional medicine because of national demand,especially for non-communicable diseases whose drugs are rarelyavailable," said Prof Songok.
The move has been hailed by herbal medicine practitioners acrossthe country terming it as long overdue.Shadrack Moimet of Koibatek Herbal Medicine Clinic said thedecision should have been made a long time ago so as to build theconfdence of Kenyans in herbal medicine.

He added that for the project to succeed, Kemri must embrace theinput of genuine experienced herbalists through publicparticipation, He cautioned against sidelining traditional herbalistsin the operations of the Mbagathi centre.
“This is a good move but Mbagathi must work with experiencedgenuine herbal medicine dealers by decentralising the services inthe entire country to incorporate all communities who valuetraditional medicines as our heritage," he said.
The journey towards embracing herbal medicine globally gainedmomentum in the mid-1970s when the World Health Organizationstarted a drive to promote access to primary care by integratingtraditional medicine into the formal health systems.
The National Policy on Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants has noted that the optimal dosage for herbal remedies is often unclear.