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African traditional medicine is gaining attention and innovation interest despite the advances in modern medicine. Most of the continent’s population use traditional medicine for at least some of their healthcare needs. Plants originating from Africa constitute about 8% of the 1,100 medicinal plants commercialised globally. But many of these plants are exported as raw materials or semi-processed. They are then processed and packaged as products like teas, tinctures, tablets, capsules and ointments. Often, when medicinal plants get commercialised, there’s no benefit to the communities whose indigenous knowledge is used. One example is the case of Hoodia, a succulent that grows in parts of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. For centuries, the plant has been used by San communities to suppress hunger and thirst. In the late 1990s, researchers from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research patented the active ingredients in Hoodia – without recognising the San’s indigenous knowledge and claim.