Traditional medicines such as Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Unani, and ethnomedicines have globally been practiced by billions of people for many centuries. In the rural areas of developing countries, traditional medicine is often the only accessible and affordable treatment available. Even in developed countries the use of traditional medicine is gaining popularity, where western medicine is generally available. In Asian and African countries, 80% populations depend on traditional medicines for primary health care according to the World Health Organization. A lot of famous pharmaceutical drugs are derived from traditional medicines (e.g., artemisinin from traditional Chinese medicine Artemisia annua). Plants, animals, microbes, and minerals used in traditional medicines are enormous. Only the species number of traditionally used medicinal plants was estimated to be between 10,000 and 53,000.
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