The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a herbal drink promoted by the president of Madagascar as a cure for covid-19 should be tested to see if it is effective.
The WHO has no evidence the drink works, according to the head of the group’s Africa office.
Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, this week defended the unproven Covid-Organics drink, which is reportedly made from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) and herbs, telling France 24 it was a “preventive and curative remedy” and “works really well”.
However, when Matshidiso Moeti at the WHO Regional Office for Africa was asked during a press conference yesterday whether the WHO had any data or evidence of its efficacy, she said: “No, we do not.”
She said the WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would soon be speaking with Rajoelina about the purported remedy. Moeti said the WHO supported the use of traditional medicine in African healthcare
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