The Minister of Communication, Republic of Madagascar – Lalatiana Andriamanarivo, has stated that 37 African countries have so far requested Madagascar’s COVID-19 Organics (CVO) remedy for prevention and treatment of coronavirus and been supplied.
According to her, even though ECOWAS as a body has not issued an official statement to approve the remedy, several member-states of ECOWAS have made requests for the concoction and been supplied. These countries include Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Nigeria and Togo, among others
Speaking to Dentaa Amoateng on the Dentaa Show, she indicated that the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajeolina, is committed to supporting every African country to be free from the global pandemic COVID-19; and as such has asked that the medicine be donated free to all heads of state which have made a request for it – according to the number of cases recorded in their respective countries.
“The president of Madagascar wants to save lives and deliver Africa from the pandemic. This is not a competition with any country or rest of the world; but at least for once the solution to a global problem is from Africa, and Africa must be recognised for that,” she said.
Furthermore, she indicated that the CVO – which was discovered by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (MIAR) – has proved effective in curing the coronavirus within seven to ten days (7-10) of administration, and is composed of 62 percent Artemisia annua (Sweet wormwood) and two other plants which are yet to be made known to the public because of patent reasons.
Former AU Ambassador to USA, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, commenting on the discovery made by Madagascar and WHO’s disapproval of the remedy on the basis that it is not clinically proven yet, commended Madagascar for the bold step taken and the immense research work done to provide such a solution.
She expressed with grief how for centuries African intellectual properties have been stolen from the continent and repackaged back to it for sale at an expensive price beyond what the ordinary man can afford, linking this to what the WHO is now seeking to do.
“Many of the drugs we use today in tablet forms from the western world are medicines from Africa which we have not been able to caption well with appropriate labels and are being sold to us at expensive prices.
“I am so happy to see Madagascar taking the position and claiming what belongs to Africa. This is African herbs, and we do not need outsiders to tell us what to do with the herbs that we have been using for centuries. If we allow it to be taken out of Africa, it is going to come back as a capsule that will be so expensive an average African cannot buy it.
“We need all heads of state in Africa countries to support owning the solution, and this can only be done with an autonomous front. A united Africa is a heavyweight that can take care of itself,” she said.
In addition, she stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as some other international organisations were not created having Africa in mind, but rather were created to precisely see to how to take advantage of Africa.
She therefore emphasised that Africans must come together to develop their own institutions to work for Africa, which is the trajectory needed for moving toward financial, economic, educational, pharmaceutical and complete healthcare points of view.
However, it is worth noting that the WHO has responded that it is making contacts with Madagascar to support the design of a study that looks into the remedy and sort out the way forward.
