Value of Herbal Medicine to Sustainable Development

Herbal medicine utilization has the potential to stimulate sustainable development and influence livelihood of societies in diverse ways. This review will update and inform healthcare authorities and decision-makers about the value of herbal medicine in actualizing the sustainable development goals of adequate healthcare system for all by 2030. This chapter is poised to provide an overview about the role of herbal medicine in stimulating sustainable development in remote societies. Thus, the chapter reviewed and extracted important information’s from a plethora of sources on sustainable development subject matter. The review highlights common types of herbal medicines used to treat illnesses, adverse effects, challenges, and the way forward in making herbal products acceptable globally. However, the growing demand for herbal medicine today is greatly contributing to the growth of developing countries’ economy while at the same time improving livelihoods. The study finds that the increase in demand and value of herbal medicines today is closely connected with the rise in knowledge of the therapeutics, phytochemical properties, availability, affordability, and inexpensiveness of the herbal products as compared to modern drugs. The chapter further concludes that herbal medicine sustainability is impeded by various factors ranging from uncontrolled deforestation, climate change, absence of policies on herbal medicine usage, anthropogenic activities, and limited collaboration between modern and herbal medicine practitioners. It is concluded that herbal medicine plays a key and central role in the sustainable development of local communities through the strengthening of healthcare system. It is recommended that more collaboration be sought between modern healthcare specialist and local herb practitioners in developing countries.