The National Institute of Health (INS) of Mozambique will investigate native plants with therapeutic potential to treat covid-19, a project by the Mozambican biologist who this week received a UNESCO award for women scientists
“The idea is to compare the anti-inflammatory potential of medicinal plants with that of conventional medicines,” announced biologist and researcher Raquel Matavele. The researcher was speaking on Wednesday, during a press conference at INS, in the province of Maputo, where she said that the prize of 50 thousand dollars (42.5 thousand euros), offered by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), will be used in research. According to the scientist, the level of toxicity and the concentration of substances in a group of plants still under identification will be evaluated. “After identifying the concentration range that is not toxic to the cells of the human organism, we will conduct experiments to assess the anti-inflammatory activity,” she added.
In addition to plants, research will be carried out on “bacteria that live in the human body to assess whether their profile may be associated with the development of the disease”. “The goal is to better understand how the disease evolves in an infected person, because we have people who do not develop the disease and others with mild to severe symptoms,” she said.
