a recent article, in one of the dailies in Delhi reported that Bihar accounts for 90 per cent of kala-azar cases countrywide and 5.5-crore people are prone to it in 30 of the 56 districts of the state. Now, the Catholic Health Association of India (chai), at Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh, is claiming to have discovered a cheap and easily available herbal remedy for the disease. The who lists 83 countries as affected by kala-azar, one of the six dreaded diseases in the tropics afflicting humans.

A panel, of prominent researchers, was set up to discover this herbal alternative for kala-azar. As a part of the project, 36 patients from five centres in Bihar were screened. chai claims that of the 21 who completed the course 16 were cured completely. The main ingredients of this remedy are Boerhaavaa, Plumbago, Zeylanica and Vitex Penducularis.

The chai panel consists of ayur-vedic doctors, ethnobotanists, and indigenous medical practitioners. The team undertook extensive surveys and background studies, besides consulting prominent researchers like C P Thakur and A Nandy, before launching the project.