Accessibility and affordability
The documentation of medicinal plants of numerous cultures is extensive, these plants have been used in treating various diseases even without the knowledge of their constituents and accurate functions [31]. The high practice of herbal medicine is due to cultural acceptability, as plant remedies have been around for centuries [32]. In countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda the ratio of herbal medicine practitioners to the population was found to be 1:200–1:400. However, the ratio of western medicine practitioners is 1:20,000 or less [33]. A survey conducted in 1991 revealed that traditional practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa out number western practitioners by 100 to 1 [34]. Herbal medicine has remained affordable in comparison to high cost western medicine [35]. In over populated countries such as India, the rural population has almost no access to modern medicine, therefore, they are compelled to rely on herbal medicine for their basic healthcare needs [36].
An alternative approach to healthcare
Plants are perceived to be healthier than conventional biosynthetic drugs. Reports on conventional drugs adverse effects has been found to be much higher compared to herbal toxicity reports [4]. Other reasons for the use of herbal medicine include: (i) several claims on the efficacy and safety of plant medicines [11], (ii) improvements in the quality of herbal medicines with the development of scientific evaluation [21], (iii) to relieve symptoms related to chronic or terminal illnesses [37], such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, diabetes and sickle-cell anemia [38]. A survey conducted in the USA showed that 78% of patients living with HIV/AIDS use some form of herbal medicine. In such cases, western medicine is perceived to have failed the public [4].
