Background The emergence of resistant Candida species to antifungal drugs has led to resurgence in herbal usage globally. However, little is known about anti-candida plants. This study explored ethnomedicinal plants as treatment option for candidiasis in Pader, Northern Uganda. Methods A cross-sectional survey of potential anti-candida plants was conducted using questionnaires, focus group discussions and field observations in March 2022. Sixty-three respondents were selected by snowball technique. The frequencies of respondents/responses were analyzed, associations of respondents’ socio-demographics with indigenous knowledge of herbal usage established by Chi-square (χ2) test using SPSS 27. Informant Consensus Factor was computed to establish level of agreement on herbal usage, and thematic analysis done for focus group discussions. Results Candidiasis is still common and troublesome in Pader. All herbalist had equal chances of receiving and treating candidiasis patients irrespective of herbalist’s gender, age, education level, occupation, marital status and religion (p > 0.05). About 39.7% of herbalists received candidiasis patients weekly (p < 0.01). All herbalists had knowledge on candidiasis. Death (56.8%) and discomfort (36.8%) were the major health risks of oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), respectively. A total of 32 potential anti-candida plant species in 18 families were identified. Families of Fabaceae (9 species) and Asteraceae (5 species) had most plant species. Trees (50.0%) and herbs (43.8%) were the dominant life forms. The commonest plants by frequency of mention were: Momordica foetida (26), Sansevieria dawei (20), Khaya anthotheca (15), Piliostigma thonningii (10), Clerodendrum umbellatum (7), Hallea rubrostipulata (5) and unidentified plant, ‘Agaba/daa layata’ in Acholi dialect (5). Plant parts mainly used were roots (56.3%) and stem barks (15.6%) harvested majorly by cutting (46.9%) and uprooting (12.5%). Most respondents (females, 95%) preferred herbal to western medication (p < 0.01) due to its perceived effectiveness. There was high consensus among herbalists on herbal remedies for OPC and VVC (FIC = 0.9). Conclusions Pader communities have diverse indigenous knowledge on candidiasis and prefer herbal medicines to orthodox treatment for candidiasis. However, the herbalists use unsustainable harvesting techniques like uprooting whole plants and cutting main roots. Hence, the need to document such indigenous knowledge before being lost for community usage and scientific validation.
<p>The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not only being felt by different social classes of people, but also across levels of education systems. There was a paradigm shift from the traditional teaching approaches to a more flexible one, including remote teaching. This crisis uncovered the many challenges in the education system such as access and lack of supportive environments for both teachers and learners. The teacher trainees were greatly affected as they could hardly complete their teacher training programme in time. The purpose of this study was to investigate student teachers’ perception of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, to explore challenges faced by student teachers; document lessons learnt and coping strategies improvised while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. A concurrent mixed method design was adopted. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 46-year three student teachers of Muni University. Data were collected using student teachers’ reflective journals and reflective meetings. Challenges experienced by student teachers were related to placement, supervisor-supervisee relationship, inadequate support from school authorities, inadequate skills in classroom room management and time management. Student teachers adopted coping strategies like teamwork, collaborative and adaptive skills, classroom and discipline management. Four categories of lessons learnt were adaptiveness, collaboration, creativity and uniqueness of learners. They learnt how to incorporate modern approaches including those embedded in Bloom’s taxonomy. The study recommended that teacher training institutions should ensure adequate and wholistic preparation of student teachers prior to school practice; school practice supervisors should treat school practice supervision as a non-judgemental exercise meant to enhance student teachers’ professional growth, and school authorities should provide required materials and mentorship to student teachers.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0955/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>
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