Tag Archives: herbal remedies

Cubans turn to herbal remedies, barter amid medicine scarcity

By Rodrigo Gutierrez

HAVANA (Reuters) – Dayana Rodriguez says her son is overwhelmed with scabies but she has not been able to find any of the treatments prescribed by their doctor at the poorly-stocked pharmacies in Havana so she is now turning to a herbal remedy instead.

Even as Cuba is leading the race to become the first country in Latin America to develop its own COVID-19 vaccine, the country is suffering acute shortages of basic medicines amid its worst economic crisis in decades.

“There aren’t any of the ones they prescribed him, Benzyl benzoate, or the other one for itching too that used to be in all the pharmacies,” said Rodriguez, buying medicinal plants at a shop on a commercial boulevard in Central Havana.

Nine families in Havana told Reuters they were struggling to treat outbreaks of scabies, a highly infectious yet preventable skin disease, due to medicine shortages.

Three doctors consulted by Reuters who declined to be named said they had resorted to advising their patients to boil up a mix of herbs to apply to their skin to provide temporary relief for scabies as it was futile to prescribe medicines that are scarce. One of those doctors also recommended a veterinary treatment for one of his patients.

Cuba’s healthcare system, built by late leader Fidel Castro, is one of the revolution’s most treasured achievements, having produced results on a par with rich nations using the resources of a developing country and in spite of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo.

But cash woes in the ailing state economy since the fall of former benefactor the Soviet Union have taken their toll on both healthcare facilities and the availability of medicine.

Over the past few years, the decline in aid from ally Venezuela, new U.S. sanctions and the pandemic have plunged Cuba into its worst economic crisis since the 1990s.

Health Minister Jose Portal reported on state television last year that as of June around a 116 basic medicines were scarce. Of those, 87 were produced locally and 29 imported.

Florencio Chavez, who has run a medicinal plant shop for 25 years, recommends guacamaya francesa, cundeamor, neem, Parthenium hysterophorus to treat scabies. He says demand for herbal remedies has risen in recent years.

Cubans have also set up groups on social media to barter medicines or other products for those they need, while the black market is thriving on the streets and online.

CHRONIC SHORTAGES

Cuban authorities started talking about chronic shortages of drugs, including basic ones like those treating hypertension and contraceptives due to a cash crunch in 2017, saying it had had to slash imports of inputs necessary for local production.

Last year, the country said shipping delays due to the pandemic had exacerbated the situation, as had U.S. sanctions.

While medicine is theoretically exempt from sanctions, the sanctions still are a strong disincentive to overseas medical providers, who might risk being fined, and the embargo hurts the economy across the board so there is less cash for imports.

Some senior citizens like Yolanda Perez, 80, who suffers from glaucoma, complain they do not have the stamina needed to line up at pharmacies overnight in the hope of grabbing their share of scant deliveries.

“It’s been six months since I was last able to get my latanoprost,” the drug that helps prevent her from going blind, she said.

Authorities in the eastern province of Holguin in January warned Cubans not to turn to the black market though because some drugs were not what they advertised and could even be harmful.

“The problem is people are despairing over the lack of medicine,” wrote a reader identified as Arcela under an article on the topic in state outlet Juventud Rebelde. She said her sister had had to buy black market antibiotics.

“That’s why they resort to these methods.”

(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Christian Plumb and Aurora Ellis)

U.S. coronavirus threat fuels demand for traditional herbal remedies

By Maria Caspani

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City acupuncturist and herbalist Clayton Shiu says demand for traditional Chinese remedies has surged at his practice since March 1, the day New York announced its first case of the novel coronavirus.

“It was like a light switch was flipped,” said Shiu, who had stocked up and had an ample supply of herbs on hand for his patients.

Kamwo Meridian Herbs, a shop in the heart of New York’s Chinatown and a longtime supplier to practitioners like Shiu, has experienced a similar jump in demand for traditional Chinese remedies for respiratory and other ailments.

To counter the outbreak in China, which has reported nearly 81,000 cases, the government initiated a series of emergency research programs that include traditional Chinese medicines, which are widely used in the world’s most populous nation.

Last year, the World Health Organization formally recognized traditional medical therapies such as acupuncture and herbal supplementation medicine, conferring more mainstream recognition of the practices, which date back more than 2,500 years.

At Kamwo, prescription orders for herb formulas used to treat flu-like symptoms and boost the immune system almost doubled since late February as confirmed cases of coronavirus started spreading across the United States.

On a recent afternoon, the store was bustling with activity as the delicate scent of medicinal herbs wafted through the air. Against the backdrop of an imposing apothecary cabinet, workers loaded herbs onto old-fashioned weighing scales as customers placed orders for formulas that include honeysuckle, cinnamon twig, peony root and other substances.

Since the outbreak began, members of the close-knit traditional Chinese medicine community have been sharing formulas for prevention and treatment, helping boost demand for certain ingredients and driving up prices, Shiu said.

Patients infected by the coronavirus, which has already contributed to at least 22 deaths in the United States as of Monday and nearly 4,000 worldwide, often present symptoms such as fever and cough, similar to those found in influenza patients.

To date, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-19.

SUPPLY WOES

At Calihouse Nutrition, a tiny shop in the heart of New York’s Chinatown, Patrick Siu was dealing with a steady stream of customers who were inspecting shelves and barrels filled with herbs and roots.

A 40-pound supply of medicinal herbs that would normally last two to three weeks now sells out in just a few days, he said.

Best-selling items such Japanese honeysuckle and the popular cold remedy Ban Lan Gen Chong Ji were already hard to find and prices were rising fast, according to Siu, 48, who emigrated to the United States from Hong Kong in the late 1980s.

With demand so high, herb purveyors and practitioners have become concerned about a growing supply crunch for certain herbs that come almost exclusively from China.

Mayway, a Chinese medicine business in San Francisco, said on its website that it had experienced an “unusual increase in ordering quantities” and asked its customers to limit their orders to what was needed. It said it anticipated supply delays “due to the low volume of container ships currently leaving China,” according to its website.

“Vendors have told us you can’t order more than 50% of what you normally do, (you) have to ration for flu herbs,” said Thomas Leung, chief executive of Kamwo. “I’m not freaking out about it, but we are keeping an eye on it.”

Worldwide, traditional medicine, including Chinese practices, generate some $60 billion a year, according to a WHO Bulletin.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani; Editing by Frank McGurty and Dan Grebler)