Traditional remedy for malaria

Malaria is currently widespread and has claimed several lives in places such as Sukabumi and Cilacap. The Ministry of Health says that most malaria sufferers are reluctant to seek modern medical treatment and instead prefer to avail of traditional healing methods.

Today, the malaria parasite is resistant to chloroquine. A relatively new malaria drug, which is effective and almost free of side effects, is artemisin. It is extracted from the leaves of a plant called Artemisia vulgaris, known as domolo in Javanese.

The wild plant, according to the literature on medicinal herbs, can be found on the slopes of mountains and even along the roadside. Artemisia is also listed in the Cibodas Botanical Garden's catalog as a plant that grows both in Indonesia and other countries.

The use of this plant should be popularized by distributing leaflets bearing its picture, name and how to use it. The water in which Artemisia is boiled can cure malaria and relieve fever. In several weeks, the patient will be rid of the malaria parasite.

This herb is also widely used in tablet form in Asia and Africa, and has produced good results. In Indonesia, the health ministry refuses to allow its use in the absence of testing. Meanwhile, the ministry's health development & research agency in cooperation with the Australian government is studying a drug called Artesunate.

I would like to suggest that schools of pharmacy should establish herbariums where this plant species may be displayed so that mistakes in its identification may be avoided.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO, Jakarta