Paxherbals
{{Short description|Nigerian alternative medicine product manufacturing company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Paxherbals
| logo =
| logo_size = 100
| type = Private
| logo_alt = Paxherbals Brand Logo
| logo_caption =
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| image = Remote view of paxherbals.jpg
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| image_alt = Paxherbals Headquarters in Ewu, Edo State Nigeria
| image_caption = Pax Herbal Center in Ewu-Esan
| traded_as =
| industry = Alternative medicine Products Manufacturing
| founded = {{Start date and age|1996|07|12}} in Ewu-Esan, Edo State, Nigeria
| founder = Adodo Anselm
| hq_location_city = Ewu-Esan
| hq_location_country = Nigeria
| num_locations = 1000 stores
| num_locations_year = 2017
| area_served = {{Unbulleted list|Africa|UK|U.S.A}}
| key_people = {{Unbulleted list|Peter Egwhrujakpor (Chairman)|Anselm Adodo (CEO)}}
| products = {{Unbulleted list|Capsules|Decoction|Tinctures}}
| production =
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| num_employees = {{Unbulleted list|{{increase}}150 (2016)|155 (2017)}}
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| website = {{URL|www.paxherbals.net}}
| footnotes =
}}
Paxherbals also known as Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories is a Nigerian alternative medicine product manufacturing company founded by Adodo Anselm in 1996 at Ewu Monastery.
The company adopted a science-based approach to its Traditional African medicine brand of alternative medicine by establishing three sets of science laboratories for its operations.{{cite journal|last1=Itchen|first1=Jame|display-authors=etal|title=Modern African Remedies - Herbal Medicine and Community Development in Nigeria|journal=Policy Voice Series|date=April 2015|issue=April 2015|url=http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ARI-Policy-Voice-Pax-Herbal-download.pdf|accessdate=1 May 2017}} This was with a view to diffusing the age-long bias associated with African herbal practices in Nigeria and in most parts of Africa which associated herbal medicine with witchcraft, sorcery, ritualism, paganism, and all sorts of fetish practices.
As of 2017, Paxherbals has a presence in 26 states out Nigeria's 36 states with a network of 1,000 alternative medicine product distributors. Thirty-three health products are certified by Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).{{cite book|last1=Adodo|first1=Anselm|title=Integral Community Enterprise in Africa: Communitalism as an Alternative to Capitalism|date=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1138636798|page=8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DeEDgAAQBAJ}}{{cite web|title=Africa: Summary of 'Africa's Natural Remedies' Event With Father Anselm Adodo|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201505051547.html|website=Africa Research Institute (London)|publisher=Africa Research Institute|accessdate=16 May 2017|ref=ARIAllAfrican2015|date=5 May 2015}}{{efn| Certification by NAFDAC means certified products do not contain harmful substances. The certification does not certify product efficacy.}}
History
=1997 to 2007=
In 1997, the founder of Paxherbals (Adodo Anselm) started a small herbal garden in Ewu Monastery where he grew medicinal plants. The first herbal preparations from the herbal garden were used in making herbal remedies for common ailments like malaria and cough. A loan of about thirty thousand Nairas (NGN 40,000 or approx. $200) was used to build a three-room clinic where patients from nearby villages were attended to by Anselm and his first employee Gbogbo John. The three-room clinic soon came to be called Pax Herbal Center.
By May 2006, Paxherbals have built a set of laboratories which was commissioned by Chief Lucky Igbinedion, Governor of Edo State (1999-2007). The laboratories include a quality control laboratory and microbiology laboratory. By 2008, Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories had become the biggest, best-equipped, best organized, and most modern herbal research center in Africa.{{cite book|last1=Ronnie|first1=Lessem|title=The Integrators: The Next Evolution in Leadership, Knowledge and Value Creation|date=2016|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1472481214|page=86|url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Integrators-The-Next-Evolution-in-Leadership-Knowledge-and-Value/Lessem/p/book/9781472481214|accessdate=6 May 2017}}
Research
File:Researchers at work at paxherbal lab with products.jpg
File:Product formulation laboratory.jpg
Poor regulation and insufficient research has always been the bane of herbal medicine practice in Africa.{{cite book |last1=van Wyk|first1=Ben-Erik|last2=van Oudtshoorn|first2=Bosch|last3=Gericke|first3=Nigel|year=1999|title=Medicinal Plants of South Africa|page=7|location=Pretoria|publisher=Briza Publications|isbn=978-1-875093-37-3}} In order to change this narrative, Paxherbals created a research team which is a mixture of exogenous (pharmacists, botanists, pharmacologists, microbiologists, laboratory scientists and plant scientists) and the indigenous (traditional birth attendants, bone setters, local taxonomists, village historians, and chemists). The research team is headed by professor Okogun Joseph, who is the head of Scientific Research and Development.
=With Institute of African Studies=
Paxherbals have formed a partnership with the Institute of African Studies (IAS) with the view of changing the way herbal medicine is learned and taught in Nigeria. With the university's curriculum committee approving a new curriculum, the university is open to admitting students for masters and Ph.D studies in Traditional African Medicine.{{cite web|last1=Muanya|first1=Chukwuma|title=Why government should invest in trado-medicine development|url=https://guardian.ng/features/why-government-should-invest-in-trado-medicine-development/|website=The Guardian|date=September 2016 |publisher=The Guardian Newspapers|accessdate=4 May 2017|ref=THEGUARD1}}
Challenges
References
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Notes
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