The corona virus outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and was later declared as a Pandemic which led to lockdowns all over the world for a long time as the infection was spreading at an alarming rate causing millions of deaths. As fear and panic filtered in, in a desperate attempt to find cure for the disease, doctors, scientists, and even general public started using unconventional methods and medicines in a hope to make something work. For example, Company "Ford which makes automobiles started making ventilators" due to shortage of ventilators.

Many people resorted to herbal remedies such as natural roots, garlic, ginger, onion, cucumber, turmeric, broccoli, etc to boost immunity to prevent corona virus and to fight against it. In case of developing countries such as India, herbal medicine and ayurveda is still the usual go-to option for primary healthcare as they are culturally accepted at a large extent and it is a part of their traditional knowledge since the remedies have been passed on from generations. However, the use of herbal and ayurvedic medicines increased in the last two years during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are also known as Indian traditional medicines and are made up of natural ingredients without any chemicals. These ingredients such as herbs, plant roots, ginger, garlic, etc are helpful to the body and are also used by animals to cure small diseases. The use of traditional medicine is viewed with skepticism by most in the developed world of pharmaceutical industry but is still being used widely not just in India but abroad as well. This article discusses how the traditional Indian medicines helped mitigating the corona virus.

Keywords

Traditional, Medicine, Pandemic, COVID-19.

Science played the most important role in developing Covid-19 vaccines, however, the access to these vaccines was a problem faced by many. The makers of the vaccines were reluctant to waive intellectual property rights over the vaccine, leading to vaccines being either too expensive or not accessible at all for the general public. When the people could not access vaccines, they resorted to other methods in order to prevent the infection or to cute the disease. In indigenous communities such as India, China, Nigeria, Thailand, etc, therapies such as herbal and plant based are used to cure covid-19. This often caused a debate between the traditional and western medical practitioners.

The role of traditional medicine is documented in many ancient and Vedic texts in India. It is also a known thing that even animals treat themselves from certain plants and herbs such as grasses, berries, etc when they fall sick or are injured. Therefore, it is a well established fact that since the dawn of civilization, even before medicines were invented, humans have been using herbs and plants as remedies for various ailments. "Traditional medicines are millennia old and are an integral component of traditional knowledge." Even if taken with western medicines, they do not have any side effect and mostly do not react with the combinations of western medicines. Traditional medicines have a different approach, method, and philosophy from that of western medicine as they stem from traditional knowledge which has been passed on from generations to generations. They focus on body and mind for diagnosis, prevention, treatment whereas western medicines focus on suppressing the symptoms on target body parts. Even then, the scientific community does not accept traditional medicine as medicine and often ridicule those who do.

TK also referred to as indigenous or aboriginal knowledge is described by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), as "knowledge, know-how, skills and practices that are developed, sustained and passed on from generation to generation within a community, often forming part of its cultural or spiritual identity".

It has also been recognized as a sustainable development tool among the indigenous and local communities. It differs from conventional IPR because of having a sense of community and an intrinsic communal characteristic. To protect the traditional knowledge from those who want to commercialize it for their own use and good, the international community brought an International legislative framework for protecting traditional knowledge. It is called the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the 2010 Nagoya Protocol. These Conventions and the Protocol recognize and protect the traditional knowledge.

The traditional medicine made from the traditional knowledge included Kadha, a drink which is a mixture of many herbs and spices in hot water. It is used by the indigenous community to cure cough, flu, etc. "The indigenous knowledge has been a springboard for innovation of medicine and pharmaceutical products depends on past discoveries, some of which have indigenous knowledge origins." In a similar fashion, they could be the solution for COVID ?19 infections using the traditional knowledge.

Conclusion

As the fear and panic rose with increase in the number of infections and with it, the number of deaths, people, especially those belonging to the indigenous communities resorted to traditional medicine which contains herbal medicine and plant based remedies. Ayurvedic medicine also played an important role in mitigating the effects of Covid-19 in India. Traditional medicine form a part of traditional knowledge, which are ought to be protected, as also said in the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol. It is a tool for sustainable development and also does not exploit the general public like those of the pharmaceutical industry.

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