Can herbal medicine cure cancer?

At the offices of Lukwago Herbal Foundation (LHF) in Nakawa Division, Kampala, a crowd is gathered, which is a mixture of patients with various ailments.
Ruth Namatta, 33, sits under a shade to protect herself from the scorching sun. She has come from Kawanda, Wakiso District, to fetch the herbal drugs she takes to relieve the pain she is going through.
“I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and doctors told me I delayed to come to hospital, which caused the disease to reach its advanced stages,” Namatta shares.
“I was prescribed drugs but I only managed to buy drugs to take me for a week. I got better for some months, and I failed to buy more drugs because their prices are high,” she says.
She says each batch cost her at least Shs70,000 and she is required to buy a batch every week. Realising the agony Namatta was going through, a friend advised her to try some herbalists whom she was convinced had effective herbs for her ailment.
“Initially, I parted with Shs40,000 and I was given drugs for a month. My situation has greatly improved in the last three months,” she argues.
Namatta’s situation explains the predicament many cancer patients go through. This, according to Jacqueline Aber, a pharmacologist at the Natural Chemo Research Institute in the Ministry of Health, is why most of them opt for an industry that is currently unregulated by the government. While it is an undeniable fact that herbs have been eaten for their health-giving properties for thousands of years, today, Aber says, such herbs are being used to make some drugs to treat cancer, among other illnesses. Aber observes that many people are resorting to herbal drugs because they are easily accessible.
“Basically, herbal drugs work effectively on cancer and on any other disease. They are relatively cheaper than modern drugs, readily available and are within people’s reach,” Aber says.
She shares that what someone needs to know is the toxic levels of most of the plants, and then they can easily make a remedy from such.
Jaafer Lukwago, a traditional healer and a member of the Lukwago Herbal Foundation, says they have a record of success stories, especially in treating diseases such as cervical cancer. He observes that under their foundation, they have been able to make herbal cancer drugs that have alleviated pain in many patients with acute cases.
“We treat patients depending on the type of cancer. Many people we enroll on traditional drugs have effectively recovered from the acute conditions of cancer,” he boasts.
Lukwago observes that there are some cancers for which they guarantee complete cure, for instance, Leukemia [blood cancer].
“For other types such as cervical, prostate, brain, and liver cancer, among others, it all depends on the condition of the patients,” he says, adding that: “If the patient comes while the cancer is still in its early stages, there are chances of complete cure,” he says.
But he notes that if the cancer is in its critical conditions, they can only give patients herbal drugs that alleviate pain and strengthen the body’s immune system.
Aber says research at the Natural Chemo Research Institute in the Ministry of Health has developed several herbal drugs for cancer that are effective in both preventing and curing patients. She notes that according to their records, they mostly receive patients with cases of cervical, breast and prostate cancer.
“Cancer in most cases is caused due to excessive intoxications in the body. Our treatment, therefore, is geared towards removing or reducing such intoxicants from the body,” she explains.
Using several plants such as Prunus Africana (red stinkwood) and wheat grass, among other plants, Aber says, many patients have responded positively to their herbal drugs, which is why they keep researching about them. Because of its proven importance as a remedy, Prunus Africana is currently being protected by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and its export has to be subject to a CITES export permit to protect the tree from depletion.
Aber explains that their treatment depends on the patient’s condition, those whose cancer cases are in the early stages are first enrolled for three months and those in advanced stages for six months. She says the duration in each category enables them to monitor the changes in the patients’ health.
“Since we don’t have screening equipment, after the prescribed period, we advise patients to screen again to check on their health status. Thank God, there are many success stories for people with cancer in advanced stages tremendously improving in their health,” she says.
She, however, adds that as a condition, no patient is enrolled on the herbal drugs unless they are first screened in an established hospital and returns with forms showing the cancer state to avoid wrong drug administration.
Aber says there are three types of patients they receive and treat at their centre; those starting on medication, on continued medication and those who take herbal drugs basically to prevent the cancer infections.
She observes that with many patients being referred by doctors from several hospitals, they often emphasise that patients use both modern and herbal medicines concurrently.
“We don’t discontinue a person on modern medicine but encourage the patient to take a combination of both herbal and modern treatment,” she notes.
However, both Lukwago and Aber agree that most of their patients are constantly advised to take some food supplements so as to beef up their diets.
Aber says currently, there is no clinical or empirical research-based finding in Uganda to prove that herbal drugs completely cure cancer- related illnesses. But she quickly notes that they have got “evidence-based efficacy” that their herbal drugs do cure or relieve cancer patients of their extreme health conditions.
“For cancers of breast and cervical, the drugs we use are still under trial, therefore we can’t conclude that they completely cure cancer,” she clarifies, adding: “But for prostate cancer and fibroids, we have evidence-based efficacy and all treated patients got well.”
Dr Jane Dubu, an oncologist at Uganda Cancer Institute at Mulago hospital, also says there is no research yet in the country that proves whether herbal drugs can cure cancer.
“At least I am not certain of any empirical research that has ever been carried out in Uganda to verify that herbal drugs can cure cancer patients. All we hear are those traditional herbalists throwing around their adverts in the media,” Dr Dubu observes.
Dr Dubu explains that often they have had cases of impatient patients who tell them that they have given up on modern medicine and vow to resort to herbal drugs.
“But, our experience is that most of them return when the cancer is in its complicated stages and the person is already rotting away. Therefore, in my opinion herbal drugs don’t work at all,” she concludes.
Dr Godfrey Otti, another oncologist at Uganda Cancer Institute, Mulago, also supports his colleague’s view.
“Most of the patients run away from modern medicine but often return only when things have gone bad and they want a quick intervention which is always a hard case,” Dr Otti says.
However, Aber says because of the proven records of the effectiveness of herbal drugs in treating and alleviating pain among patients with the different types of cancers, their department is collaborating with the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) to research on the effective traditional cancer drugs. The arrangement will be coordinated under the National Health Research Organisation that brings together all health research institutes in Uganda.

Challenge in the herbal approach

“The biggest challenge is that our industry is not regulated which makes it permeable to quack traditional healers. It is our constant cry to government to speed up the bill [the Indigenous and complementary medicine bill, 2015] that will regulate the industry,” Jacqueline Aber, a pharmacologist at the Natural Chemo Research Institute in the Ministry of Health, appeals.
As a measure to ensure that there is some informal conformity among the players, Aber says, they have organised several seminars to sensitise some genuine players in the herbal drugs industry about quality standards. “We are successfully encouraging them to improve packages and most of our drugs if found on the shelves of drug shops, you may not differentiate them from the modern one, unless told so,” she shares.
According to the World Health Organisation, herbal drugs are regarded as complementary or alternative medicine. The organisation, however, emphasises the formulation of a national regulations and policy to ensure public protection.
“Regulation of herbal medicines is a key means of ensuring safety, efficacy and quality of herbal medicinal products,” the WHO report observes, adding: “One of the major components of the WHO traditional medicine strategy is to promote the integration of traditional medicine and their practices into national health care systems where appropriate.”