JFC Munene College of Health Sciences is preparing to host the 1st International HerboMed Conference, a major international forum bringing together science, traditional knowledge, healthcare, innovation and enterprise.
The inaugural conference will take place from 17–19 March 2027 at Blue Post Hotel in Thika, Kenya, under the theme:
“Advancing Integrative Health Excellence through Research, Innovation and Youth Enterprise.”
Hosted by JFC Munene College of Health Sciences in collaboration with Busitema University, the conference will bring together researchers, academicians, healthcare professionals, herbal medicine practitioners, policymakers, innovators, students, entrepreneurs, industry representatives and other stakeholders interested in the future of herbal and integrative healthcare.
Moving the Conversation From Tradition to Evidence
For generations, communities across Africa and the world have relied on medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge as part of healthcare and wellbeing.
The important conversation today, however, is no longer simply whether traditional medicine exists or is widely used.
The bigger questions are about evidence, safety, quality, effectiveness, regulation, preservation of indigenous knowledge and how credible traditional health practices can interact responsibly with modern healthcare systems.
These are questions that require scientists, practitioners, universities, regulators, healthcare professionals, communities and industry to sit at the same table.
HerboMed 2027 is being developed to provide that platform.
The conference comes at a particularly important time globally, as greater attention is being placed on building scientific evidence around traditional, complementary and integrative medicine while ensuring that safety, regulation, sustainability and responsible healthcare practice remain central.
Research at the Centre
Research will form a major part of the conference.
Researchers and practitioners are being invited to present work covering areas including:
Phytochemistry and Pharmacognosy
Ethnopharmacology
Clinical Safety Validation
Integrative Healthcare Protocols
Herbal Medicine Regulation and Policy
Natural Product Innovation and Processing
Sustainable Herbal Value Chains
Indigenous Knowledge Preservation
These areas reflect one of the central ambitions of HerboMed: creating stronger connections between traditional knowledge and modern scientific investigation.
For herbal medicine to gain greater confidence within contemporary healthcare, claims must increasingly be subjected to research, quality standards, safety assessment and scientific scrutiny.
The conference therefore seeks not merely to celebrate herbal medicine, but to examine it critically, scientifically and constructively.
Connecting Researchers, Practitioners and Decision-Makers
One challenge within the herbal and traditional medicine sector is fragmentation.
Researchers may work independently from practitioners.
Practitioners may possess extensive indigenous knowledge without connections to universities or laboratories.
Innovators may develop promising products but lack pathways to validation, investment or commercialisation.
Policymakers and regulators may meanwhile be addressing safety and quality questions from a completely different perspective.
HerboMed aims to bring these communities closer together.
By creating a multidisciplinary international platform, the conference will provide opportunities for participants to exchange research, discuss policy, explore collaboration and develop relationships that can continue beyond the three-day gathering.
Creating Space for Young People and Enterprise
A distinctive element of the conference theme is Youth Enterprise.
Africa possesses enormous biological resources, indigenous knowledge and a rapidly growing young population. The challenge is converting those assets responsibly into research, employment, innovation and sustainable enterprises.
HerboMed will therefore look beyond academic discussion to the possibilities presented by natural-product development, value addition, processing, technology, commercialisation and youth-led innovation.
Young researchers, students, innovators and entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to interact with established professionals and explore how ideas can move from research or traditional knowledge toward solutions with measurable health, social and economic value.
Protecting Knowledge While Advancing Science
Progress in herbal medicine must also recognise where much of its knowledge originates.
Indigenous and community knowledge accumulated over generations remains an important part of the conversation around medicinal plants.
Advancing research should therefore go hand in hand with respect for traditional knowledge, ethical research practice, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of medicinal resources.
HerboMed 2027 provides an opportunity for these issues to be discussed alongside scientific validation and innovation rather than treated as separate conversations.
An Important Milestone for JFC Munene College
For JFC Munene College of Health Sciences, hosting the first International HerboMed Conference represents an important step in the institution's continuing development.
The College has increasingly positioned research, innovation and practical healthcare training as important components of its academic mission.
HerboMed takes that ambition beyond the classroom.
Instead of only preparing students to consume existing knowledge, the conference creates an opportunity for the institution, its partners, students and researchers to participate in conversations about how healthcare knowledge itself is developed, evaluated and applied.
The collaboration with Busitema University further brings a regional East African dimension to the conference and creates opportunities for cross-border academic and professional engagement.
Call for Abstracts Now Open
Researchers, healthcare professionals, herbal medicine practitioners, innovators, students and youth entrepreneurs are currently invited to submit abstracts for consideration.
Submissions may address research, clinical practice, policy, regulation, natural-product development, indigenous knowledge, innovation or related areas within herbal and integrative health.
Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 November 2026
Notification of Acceptance: 30 November 2026
Conference: 17–19 March 2027
Venue: Blue Post Hotel, Thika, Kenya
Participants are invited to contribute to a conference that seeks not simply to discuss the future of herbal medicine, but to help shape it.
Building Bridges for the Future of Healthcare
The future of healthcare does not have to be framed as a choice between traditional knowledge and modern science.
The greater opportunity lies in determining, through rigorous research and responsible practice, what works, what is safe, what can be improved and how valuable knowledge can contribute to better health outcomes.
That requires evidence.
It requires collaboration.
It requires regulation.
It requires innovation.
And it requires spaces where people who ordinarily work separately can meet and think together.
From 17–19 March 2027, Thika will provide one such space.
The 1st International HerboMed Conference is coming — bringing research, indigenous knowledge, healthcare, innovation and enterprise into one international conversation.
