Anti-Covid-19 drug: Tanzania, Liberia, others begin use of Madagascar drug, Ignore WHO

“Coronavirus is there and it will continue for a couple of months. We have patients and others are dying,” -Tanzanian health Minister

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

Tanzania has received  first batch of shipment of Madagascar’s self-proclaimed, plant-based “cure” for coronavirus, ignoring warnings from the World Health Organization(WHO),that its ability to cure has not been proven.

Other countries that have also received the anti-coronavirus drug free of charge include Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea-Bissau.

According to the Twitter handle of the Tanzanian spokesman Hassan Abas, “Tanzania today received the support of coronavirus medicine from Madagascar,”

The Malagasy drug known as Covid-Organics is a drink developed by Malagasy Institute of Applied Research, said  to have been extracted  from artemisia, a plant with healing  prove of malaria.

Sipping the Malagasy coronavirus medicine by Tanzanian and Madagascar ministers

However, the Malagasy Health Minister, Ummy Mwalimu said on Friday that in the face of the global debate on the efficacy of the drug,
“Coronavirus is there and it will continue for a couple of months. We have patients and others are dying, We need to learn how to live with it by taking precautionary measures.”
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The Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina early in the week said it would start the sell of the drug, which it launched in April 2020, it would be sold for, around 40 US cents per bottle.

During the launch of the concoction, the president said it  had already cured two people. Liberia’s Deputy Information Minister Eugene Farghon said this week, there was no plan to test the remedy before distribution.

Farghon said WHO in the other hand has not yet tested other popular local remedies as well, “It will be used by Liberians and will be used on Liberians.

“Madagascar is an African country … ,therefore we will proceed as an African nation and will continue to use our African herbs.”

The world health body has kicked according to the agency,   “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”.

1. It however noted that even as Isolated compounds extracted from artemisia are effective in malaria drugs, that the plant itself cannot treat malaria.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also insisted that the drug should be “tested rigorously”.

The African Union (AU) on Monday said it was trying to get Madagascar’s technical data on the remedy, and would pass that to the Africa CDC for evaluation.

AU insisted,  “This review will be based on global technical and ethical norms to garner the necessary scientific evidence.”

The WHO Africa head, Matshidiso Moeti expressed concern that people who drink the product might feel they are immune to COVID-19 and engage in risky behaviour.

Moeti said,   “We are concerned that touting this product as a preventive measure might then make people feel safe,” she said.