Abstract

REVIEW ON THE CHALLENGES OF HERBAL MEDICINES

Pansare Tabassum Arif*, Khandekar Surekha Babasaheb and Satpudke Shweta Shaligram

Abstract

The major healthcare systems in India include Ayurved, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha as well as folk medicine which entirely depend upon natural medicinal plants and have an enormous economic importance. This country is perhaps the largest producer of medicinal herbs and due to the prevalence of a variety of climatic conditions is truly called the botanical garden of the world. The efficacy of any herb is directly proportional to its identity, purity and quality. The quantitative data as well as qualitative data about safety and efficacy of traditional medicine are distant from adequate to meet the criteria obligatory to support its use globally. Careless processing of medicinal drugs is a major reason for ineffectiveness of some of our traditional medicines. Such deteriorated drugs will definitely not be accepted in the global market. This article enlightens these limitations and challenges regarding standardization of medicinal plants including several factors like diversity of herbal medicine, difficulties in plant identification, diversity in harvesting procedure, variation in its growing condition etc. Moreover the present review is an effort to highlight the various challenges of herbal medicine regarding drug production sector, quality and safety in addition to efficacy.

Keywords: challenges, herbal medicines, quality, efficacy.