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KIU Pharmacy Students Want to Make Their Botanical Garden a Learning Center for Local Herbalists

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KIU, Western Campus – KIU Pharmacy students, under their umbrella group, Kampala International University Pharmacy Students Association (KIUPSA) want to make the botanical garden they initiated recently a learning center and teaching tool for local traditional herbalists.

The students communicated this in a report addressed to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) Western Campus about the Herbal Medicines Exhibition held at Rukarwarwe on January 18, which was signed by KIUPSA president Michael Daniel Funda.

According to Funda, the Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Monica Musenero (in yellow dress in photo), who was the chief guest at the exhibition, hinted that universities had a big role to play in research and development of herbal medicines.

“The Honourable Minister hinted on a chain of herbal medicines’ development – from the local herbalist out there in the community in crude form, the role of the university in the chain, which we have already developed a plan for using the university knowledge we acquire to be able to analyze most of the crude drugs out there in the community - to the research of these crude herbal medicines in the communities and publication in journals, where after we can engage the Ministry of Science and Technology for possible funding,” reads the report.

“As university students, we look at bridging the gap in the herbal medicine research and development chain because our role is essentially needed,” it adds.

The report also says that KIU and the Chairman Board of Trustees (CBOT) Dr. Al-Hajj Hassan Basajjabalaba were applauded for sponsoring the event and Dr Musenero challenged universities and their students to use the knowledge garnered from the exhibition to help out in making the best use of herbal medicines beyond the crude products used within our local communities.

The botanical garden is an initiative of KIUPSA and it harbours herbal medicine plants, which were mainly used in the exhibition booth of the Pharmacy students at Rukarwarwe.

The students exhibited herbariums of different herbal medicinal plants, especially the medicinal parts of the plants.

They also exhibited starch from different medicinal plants, which they make using pharmaceutical equipment from the University Pharmaceutics Manufacturing Wing.

Photo: KIUPSA