On the move in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Handover of the reins, webinars, meetings: initiatives are multiplying, and new perspectives are opening up in the DRC. Let’s take a closer look.
New developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Goma-based Dr. Patient Kaloma, head of the Petit Nord Kivu Artemisia House, is the new coordinator of the national Artemisia House DRC. Our warmest thanks go to Dr Nathan Bundunti Makaya, the first coordinator of this national house created in 2020.
Dr. Nathan will continue to serve as president of the national Artemisia House and will pursue the development of the Kisantu Artemisia House. In particular, he is developing “integrative clinical phytotherapy”, which aims to provide natural treatment using medicinal plants (Artemisia, cloves, turmeric, etc.), as well as allopathic medicine when necessary. The Kisantu Artemisia House thus has cross-disciplinary skills thanks to :
- An agro-ecological production site ( in Kongoterra)
- A processing site and laboratory for the production of phytotherapeutic by-products
- An integrative clinical phytotherapy practice
- A sales site in Kinshasa (commune of Lemba)
New developments in the region too! Florian Marchadour joined the Artemisia House in September, on a part-time basis, as project manager in East Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar. Florian has lived in Congo Brazzaville since 2012, and has been working on development projects for over fifteen years. He visited the DRC at the end of September. He visited the Kisantu Artemisia House, where he met Dr. Nathan, as well as his “ambassadors”, young doctors trained in Artemisia cultivation who are spreading knowledge of the plant through their networks.
Our objective in the DRC is now to obtain marketing authorization (“MA”) and develop sales outlets. The stakes are high. Kinshasa, the country’s capital, has a population of over 17 million, and the Kisantu Artemisia House has just one sales outlet, located in the commune of Lemba. We began thinking about this issue this summer. Darling, our West Africa coordinator, based in Benin, organized a webinar on August 12 for DRC Artemisia House representatives on the following theme: knowing and managing your market. Based on feedback from several of the network’s Artemisia Houses, he stressed the importance of carrying out awareness-raising and other educational activities around herbal tea sales outlets, for maximum impact as close as possible to the end consumer. Together, we’re making progress!
