Traditional Medicine in Waste Bottles: The Prospects of Integrated Waste Bottle Management in Nigeria

摘要

The paper investigates the relationship between community health and wastemanagement in Nigeria. Due to the harsh economic situation, the high cost of orthodoxtreatments and the associated drugs, many people presently patronize African traditionalmedicine. In a bid to remain healthy in midst of economics woes, many have got infections andillnesses from consuming traditional medicine bottled or stored in waste bottles which are neithersterilized nor certified clean.On the other hand, it is also a fact and popular too, that dead ants or their parts and other particlesare often seen in corked drinks like beer, soda and water etc. If this occur at a higher level ofbrewery and bottling such as in Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Guinness etc, the people are no longersurprise when they see impurities in the lowest level of bottling as we have it in the traditionalmedicine practiceThe reason for the above is not far-fetched. Journeys around our cities show that waste bottlemake up to 60 percent of our solid wastes. Our traditional medicine practitioners source theirbottles directly from waste dumps or indirectly from traditional waste bottle collectors. Again 95percent of the bottles used in our bottling companies and breweries are bottles that have beenused more than once. And given the fact that our people care for the content of the bottles andnot the bottles themselves, they subject empty bottles to various kind of abuses before they getback to the bottling company for reuse. Most often the empty bottles are homes to antsmosquitoes, cockroaches, some of usually die and stick permanently in them. As a result of thelow level of quality control in Nigeria, community health is put at risk when these bottles arereused for bottling of food, wines and drugs. This account for the occasional out brake of diseasesuch as Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentery and Diarrhea.This paper examines the prospects of an integrated waste bottle management for the country. Itrecommends that the government should set up an agency that will regulate and control the useof waste bottles in traditional medicine, pharmaceutical and other bottling companies. Theagency is to procure, sterilize and certify the use of waste bottles by affixing their certificationmark or number on them. If this is made possible there will be higher prospects for communityhealth and environmental protection. It will also stimulate economic activities and bring abouthigher revenues for the government and traditional waste bottle collectors.