Our Goals

 
•    To promote the use of traditional medicines and traditional methods of healing
The Institute shall use available expertise to evaluate, rationalize and promote the use of natural products, and beneficial customs and practices of traditional medicine. It will carry out clinical observations and toxicological studies as a means to promote safe products and to identify and discourage harmful products, customs and practices which are detrimental to health. Useful practices and methods will be researched on and promoted.  

•    To promote commercial exploitation and conservation of medicinal plants
The Institute shall organize itself to promote industrialization and trade in herbal medicines, as a way to contribute to National Growth and Poverty Reduction. In collaboration with other stakeholders, it intends to promote conservation of natural floraand community based cultivation of medicinal plants.Also, contribute to trade in herbal medicinal products throughsale of their extracts and possibly isolated pure compounds within the country and abroad;for improved livelihood.
•    To contribute to the discovery of new drugs
The Institute, through collaboration with Traditional Health Practitioners, conduct scientific investigations on plants, animal and mineral products that are used traditionally as medicines with the purpose of developing new drugs. The pursuit of patents shall be part of the core activities, the Institute and shall serve the purpose of discovery of new processes or drugs to treat conditions that are prevalent in Tanzania.This willalso serve as a source of technologyby generating new formulations, which are of interest to the pharmaceutical industries.

•    To contribute to the local production of pharmaceuticals
There are numbers of established medicinal plants growing in Tanzania. The country continues to import drugs derived from plants while some could be produced locally. The Institute has already started to pioneer the production of medicinesfrom known plants that grow in Tanzania. Efforts to strengthen capacityin terms of equipments areongoingfor laboratory to semi-industrial production of some formulations. Few machines have been acquired for production of capsules, powders, liquid and creamformulations. The Institute needs analytical equipment for the analysis of content and ingredients, and for stability testing to establish shelf life of drugs that will be produced as part of quality control management in the GMP laboratory.

•    To train and disseminate knowledge on traditional medicine.
The Institute participates in teaching undergraduate and postigraduate students in the Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing. The institute hostsMaster and PhD programsin traditional medicine development and professional development course to traditional health practitioners and stakeholders. The knowledge generated is disseminated to policy makers, communities, traditional health practitioners, and the public in general.

•    To build relevant capacities to enable the Institute perform its mandate
The Institute shall endeavour to build adequate infrastructure to accommodate its staff, research and development activities, modern housing for research animals, and teaching equipment and facilities for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.