Page 9 - Inspiring UG

CRYPTOLEPIS

SANGUINOLENTA (Cs):

HERBAL REMEDY

FOR MALARIA?

Dr. Naalamle Amissah

The World Health Organization (WHO) Treatment of Tick-Borne Diseases Conference in
reported an estimated 219 million malaria Baltimore, Maryland in 2018. Her indings,
cases in 2017 (WHO 2018), resulting in from a survey of 133 medicinal practitioners,
435,000 deaths, 93 percent of which occurred show that Cs is also used to treat Lyme disease,
in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Unfortunately, this Babesia and Bartonella, among other ailments.
heavy toll of malaria on the wellbeing of sub-
Saharan Africans coincides with a stall in the Initial funding to support Dr. Amissah's work
progress of malaria control, after many years of on Cs came from the Volkswagen Foundation,
success in combating the disease, because of with subsequent support from a Cambridge-
funding limitations and increases in drug Africa Partnership for Research Excellence
resistance among other things. Consequently, (CAPREx) Fellowship in 2016. Under the
the race for a remedy persists on all fronts. mentorship of Dr. Lesley Boyd, she successfully
developed Cs in-vitro propagation protocols at
In the Department of Crop Science at the the National Institute for Agricultural Botany
University of Ghana, Dr. Naalamle Amissah is (NIAB) in Cambridge, UK. Her laboratory is
investigating domestication protocols for working to ensure a sustainable supply of Cs
Cryptolepis sanguinolenta (Cs). Growing in the seedlings for commercial cultivation.
wild, Cs is a medicinal plant that has been
traditionally used in the treatment of malaria in Dr. Amissah is currently exploring funding
Ghana; its root system is the desired raw opportunities to scale up production of Cs
material for the production of the herbal planting material using the state-of-the-art
decoctions. The root extracts contain systemic tissue culture facilities at the University of
antibacterial, antifungal, anti-malarial, anti- Ghana's West Africa Centre for Crop
cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-protozoal Improvement (WACCI). With cropping cycles of
properties. According to Dr. Amissah, the nine months, and propagation protocols in
resulting heavy exploitation means Cs is likely place, the needed supply of seedlings for
to become extinct unless cultivation measures cultivation of Cs as a cash crop will be ensured.
are adopted to prevent over-harvesting.

Dr. Amissah's research delves into the ef icacy
of Cs and has determined the genetic diversity
and ef icacy of the plant. A major bene it of the
plant is related to the established anti-malarial
ef icacies of domesticated genotypes of Cs,
which support the preparation of traditional
medicines in Ghana. In addition to its anti-
malarial properties, there is an increasing
market for Cs to treat tick-borne diseases. As a
visiting scholar at the Harvard University
Center of African Studies, she presented her
research at the Integrative Medicine for the

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