The South African Herbal Pharmacopeia: Monographs of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants is a collection of 25 original monographs of medicinal plants that are currently under commercialization or have the potential for commercialization into herbal medicinal products for the global marketplace. Chapters include a general overview covering synonyms, common names, conservation status, botany, geographical distribution, ethnopharmacology, commercialization, pharmacological evaluation, chemical profiling and quality control, including HPTLC fingerprint analysis, UPLC analysis, gas chromatography and mid-infrared spectroscopy analysis. Academics researching pharmacy and analytical chemistry will benefit from the detailed chemical profile on each species presented. Industrial manufacturers of herbal products, herbal medicines, cosmetics, food supplements, and national and international policymakers and regulators will benefit from the overview provided at the beginning of each chapter. Provides a comprehensive, up-to-date literature review on 25 medicinal plants of South Africa Documents quality control protocols for chemical fingerprinting and biomarker identification in plant material Includes updated safety profiles of medicinal plants

The African Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AfrHP) provides comprehensive, up to date botanical, commercial and phytochemical information on over fifty of the most important African medicinal plants. The technical data were made on plant samples sourced from across the continent. These monographs prepared by leading African scientists, have been reviewed by international experts. Additional data includes micro morphology of the plant material, distribution maps and TLC Chromatograms. These data are crucial for producers, collectors and traders in medicinal plants and extracts as well as researchers, manufacturers and practitioners. The scope, quality and standard of these herbal monographs are comparable to those prepared in Europe, North America and Asia. Whilst this is the very first edition, it is being proposed to proceed to a second edition, quickly, as more plant species will be covered.

With over 50,000 distinct species in sub-Saharan Africa alone, the African continent is endowed with an enormous wealth of plant resources. While more than 25 percent of known species have been used for several centuries in traditional African medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases, Africa remains a minor player in the global natural

In Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta and Tabi Chama-James Tabenyang unpack the contentious South African government’s post-apartheid policy framework of the ‘‘return to tradition policy’’. The conjuncture between deep sociopolitical crises, witchcraft, the ravaging HIV/AIDS pandemic and the government’s initial reluctance to adopt antiretroviral therapy turned away desperate HIV/AIDS patients to traditional healers. Drawing on historical sources, policy documents and ethnographic interviews, Pemunta and Tabenyang convincingly demonstrate that despite biomedical hegemony, patients and members of their therapy-seeking group often shuttle between modern and traditional medicine, thereby making both systems of healthcare complementary rather than alternatives. They draw the attention of policy-makers to the need to be aware of ‘‘subaltern health narratives’’ in designing health policy.