1. Overview on Practical Herbal Medicine

2. Significance
The Middle East region has a well established tradition in using herbal drugs to treat different health conditions.
The Egyptian herbal market displays a variety of drugs that are being sold and used for improving human health with no regulations.
These uses can be either supported by scientific evidence or totally unfounded claims.

3. Objectives
To explore the many aspects of the rich traditional Egyptian herbal medicine
To investigate public convections about effectiveness of herbal medicine
To apply knowledge gained during the course in evaluating the usefulness of herbal formulas
To isolate science from meth regarding folk medicine
To investigate if and how the Egyptian drug market
benefited from the region folk medicine.

4. Assignment
Each team of students is assigned a common disease and is required to
Explain the etiology and symptoms of the disease
Identify the most common herbs used in its treatment
(name, part used, mechanism of action).
Visit a local herbalist (A’ttar) and obtain a herbal formula that he usually prescribes to treat the disease (ingredients, price, dosage)
Identify a phytopharmaceutical drug/supplement in your local pharmacy (Name, ingredients, price, dosage,
Indications and side effects)
Due on April 18th

5. Student output A brief power point presentations of key findings
A Typed Microsoft word file of the detailed work
A sample of the herbal formula obtained from “a’ttar”
The insert (pamphlet) or packaging of the pharmaceutical products

6. Presentation 10-15 minutes Start with brief description of the disease
Include the followings:
Most common herbs used for this disease (name, part used, geographical origin)
The price and ingredients for “a’ttar “ herbal formula in Arabic and English
Students own evaluation of the “a’ttar” formula
The name and ingredient of a similar pharmaceutical product
Students evaluation of the pharmaceutical product

7. Word file
Background of the disease represented by a scientific diagram
Short monographs of common medicinal plants used in the treatment (including those mentioned in the “a’ttar” formula
Details of your field visits (date, location and a description of the conversation)
A breakdown of the “attar” formula by identifying scientific name of each ingredient and the role it plays in the prescription
Your comments on the effectiveness and safety of the “attar” formula
A break down of the pharmaceutical drug by ingredients
Your comments on its effectiveness, safety and labeling
References must be included