Gambia says cures more HIV patients with herbs

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said that dozens of HIV/AIDS patients in the tiny West African state have been cured using his secret concoction of boiled herbs.            

Jammeh first announced he had found a natural remedy to cure AIDS in 2007, stirring anger among Western medical experts who claimed he was giving false hope to the sick.                  

The World Health Organization and the United Nations have said Jammeh's HIV/AIDS treatment is alarming mainly because patients are required to cease their anti-retroviral drugs making them more prone to infection.               

The president said the cured group was the seventh batch of HIV/AIDS patients undergoing his herbal remedy to have been discharged since the treatments began five years ago.                    

Jammeh said on Sunday that his government would fully integrate "natural medicine" to all the country's hospitals, to complement Western medical techniques.                 

Other African leaders have drawn criticism for extolling the power of natural remedies to combat AIDS.                        

The HIV rate in Gambia is relatively low compared to other African states, with 2 percent of the country's roughly 1.8 million people infected, according to the United Nations.


REUTERS