A major grant has been awarded to the African Medicines Innovations and Technology Development Platform (AMITD) at the University of the Free State (UFS) under the leadership of Professor Motlalepula Matsabisa and will now spearhead valuable global research into traditional medicine.
AMITD, within the Department of Pharmacology at the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences, led a consortium that included the All-India Institute of Ayurveda to bid for the funding after the WHO issued a global request for proposals.
The WHO, through its Global Traditional Medicines Centre, awarded the grant to the value of $133 671 to AMITD to develop an intellectual property framework for the protection, regulation and innovation of traditional medicines for expert assistance to safeguard the knowledge, rights and commercialisation pathways.
Global policy influence
Matsabisa, distinguished African Traditional Medicine expert and head of AMITD, said the funding shows the trust placed in the platform by global funders like the WHO and others, and how much they value the quality of work being done at the UFS.
“This is great for our traditional medicines research and the quality of research that we do and lead,” he added.
“We shall now work on international projects that will influence policies globally, and which, produced with the funding, will go a long way as we will develop a strategy and a framework for IP protection, regulation of traditional medicines.”
Professor Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, said the award was a validation of Africa’s leadership in shaping global health futures.
“It is, in fact, a testament to the intellectual leadership and strategic vision of AMITD, a proud moment for UFS, and a powerful endorsement of our capacity to lead transformative health innovation that is locally grounded and globally resonant.”
Work already under way
With the award secured, the UFS-led consortium has begun its work by preparing to establish a team of legal experts in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), intellectual property (IP), and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
This team will develop a fair and equitable benefit-sharing model to ensure that research outputs benefit both communities and society at large.
To inform this framework, Matsabisa and his team have already engaged with co-ordinators of traditional medicines in the six WHO global regions: Africa (47 countries), the Americas (35), Southeast Asia (11), Europe (53), Eastern Mediterranean (21), and the Western Pacific (27).
The grant will also facilitate the consortium’s participation in key international platforms, like the 2nd WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit in New Delhi (17-19 December 2025), where they will provide technical support on traditional medicine, IP, and ABS issues.
Other activities will include in-person and online workshops across WHO regions, enabling knowledge-sharing and collaborative problem-solving.
Reddy said that research must move beyond the lab. “It must touch lives, shape economies, and inform policy. AMITD’s work is a model of impact-driven scholarship with a big heart, driven from the central heartland of South Africa.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Progress for traditional medicine in disease-fighting arsenal
UFS traditional medicine expert tests plant-based meds on TB-from-Covid cases
Blending traditional and modern medicines can improve healthcare