Supporting Digitization of Traditional Medicinal Knowledge Through Technologies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Introduction

According to statistics, more than 85% of African people depends on the services and goods of traditional medical expertise, science, and technologies for both the provision of healthcare and for problems relating to the social, economic, and local community (James, et al., 2018). Indigenous knowledge (IK), and particularly traditional medical knowledge, is making a significant contribution to the primary healthcare of rural community residents who cannot pay the costs of mainstream medicine. The lack of trained medical professionals in rural areas and the inadequate and underfunded hospitals and clinics further worsen this issue. Due to these, traditional healthcare providers became the only known, convenient, respectable, and reasonably priced source of healthcare (Mokhesi & Modjadji, 2022). One of the significant contributions of indigenous knowledge to human health in recent years has been the utilisation of plants for medicine manufacturing and illness treatment in various traditional medicinal systems. The use of plant-based medications or products to treat illnesses or as curative agents, either alone or in combination with other treatments, is on the rise. It is estimated that traditional/folk medicine contains up to 75% of the plant-based medicinal agents utilised globally (Prakash, et al., 2021). In India, natural resources account for over 70% of all synthetic medicine discoveries, and several other synthetic equivalents have been created using prototype molecules obtained from plants. According to Noronha et al., (2020), there is a growth in the use of plants in the development of medications to treat chronic illnesses, and more than 60% of cancer treatments on the market or in clinical trials are based on natural ingredients. As noted by Nugraha et al., (2019), currently, nearly 80% of cardiovascular, immunosuppressive, anti-cancer, and anti-microbial medications come from plant sources. One and seventy-seven (177) anticancer medicines have been licensed, and more than 70% of those are based on natural substances or their imitations. Approximately 121 of the prescription medications currently in use are plant-based, accounting for around 25% of all drugs found on the market.

Between 2005 and 2007, thirteen medications with a natural origin were approved in the US; currently, more than 100 drugs based on natural products are undergoing clinical studies. Additionally, it was calculated that just 11 per cent of the 252 total medications on the WHO's list of essential medications was derived from plants (Sen & Chakraborty, 2017). Local communities' concerns, particularly those of the underprivileged rural communities, have been greatly helped by indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge (IK) is essential to the survival of local communities since it makes a significant contribution to knowledge about global development. Masango (2020) emphasised that indigenous knowledge has been used by traditional medical practitioners to create a variety of medicines as well as to identify valuable experiences and preserve them over generations through a highly sophisticated information system. Indigenous knowledge (IK) is also playing a significant role in the documentation of traditional medicines. Davenport and Kalakota (2019) noted that complex health management systems have been developed and are being utilised to address several societal health problems through the use of information systems for documenting traditional medical practices.