RASOANAIVO Biodiversity & Health

Biodiversity & Health
From Research to Policy
Ottawa, Canada
25-28 October, 2003

Philippe Rasoanaivo
Institut Malgache de Recherches Appliquées
Antananarivo, Madagascar

Back to 200 millions years

Madagascar was located
in the middle of the
Gondwana Continent

Madagascar has a unique biodiversity
with unparalleled degree of endemism
85% of species
25% of genera
6 families

Takhtajania perrieri
(Winteraceae)

Ancestor of all
flowering plants

Back to 1400

Heavy traffic in the
Indian Ocean

Madagascar has a rich cultural heritage,
including ethnomedical beliefs and practices,

With African,
Arabian,
Asian
components

Sikidy

From research to policy
National Strategy for the Sustainable
Management of the Biodiversity

National Policy on Traditional Medicine

Linking Biodiversity, Health and Research

BIODIVERSITY
Ministry of the Environment,
Water and Forestry

HEALTH
Ministry of Health

National Advisory Committee
for Traditional Medicine
RESEARCH
Ministry of Higher Education
and Scientific Research

PRIVATE SECTOR

From policy to program
On-going program coordinated by
the Ministry of Health
National Pharmacopoeia
Over 6,000 plants recorded

100 priority species

Financed by the Pierre Fabre Foundation

Functioning

Expert committee

Group staff

Graduated
students

Laboratories

On-going program coordinated by
the Ministry of Health (continued)
Formulation and production of phytomedicines,
mainly for prevalent diseases such as malaria,
diarrhea and acute respiratory infections
Terms of reference

Call for project submission

Technical committee
Funding opportunities ?

On-going program coordinated by
the Ministry of Health (continued)

Laws and regulations regarding the practice of
traditional medicine

Has received a small grant from the
WHO Representative in Madagascar

The African Day of Traditional Medicine

Part of traditional healers in Madagascar

Herbal practitioners, birth attendants, bone setters, massage practitioners

Newly identified program
Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of
some ethnomedical practices :
Plant-based medicines
Bone setting
Collaboration between
* Traditional healers,
* Local communities,
* Researchers and
* Medical doctors

Program on individual laboratory basis

Inventory of the traditional pharmacopoeia of
the South West and North of Madagascar
Biological screening of plant extracts
from traditional medicine
Phytochemical and/or pharmacological evaluation
of medicinal plants

National Museum for Biodiversity

GASYBIO
Scientific and cultural aspect of the
Malagasy Biodiversity

Alarming deforestation !!!

Race against time
before everything is lost
to humanity for ever

Fight against poverty !!

Thank you for your attention