Data based on independent interviews with45 herbalists of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya, comprised 1129 remedy reports and related to 330 species ofplants. While 49% of the remedies were encountered only once we list here 66 remedies (49 taxa) that were confirmed through independent reports from three or more individuals. A log-linear model was applied to these data in order to establish criteria for evaluating the likely efficacy ofspecific remedies. A quantitative interaction effect was calculated for each remedy as a measure of its degree of confirmation. The validity ofthe values derived from the mathematical model is considered in relation to classical criteria for evaluating ethnomedicinal reports. Les plantes medicinales Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya: identification des criteres d'evaluation quantitative pour fins de consensus. Les resultats d'enquetes individuelles avec 45 herboristes Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya ont permis de repertorier 330 especes de plantes medicinales utilisees dans quelques 1129 traitements herboristes. Puisque 49% de ces plantes medicinales n'avaient ete mentionnees qu'une seule fois, nous avons bdti une liste de 66 plantes medicinales (49 taxa) dont chacune a ete rapporteepar plus de trois herboristes. Les resultats obtenus ont ereincorpores dans un modele logarithmique lineaire afin d'identifier des criteres d'evaluation de l'efficacite de ces plantes medicinales. Pour chacune des plantes medicinales "l'effet de l'interaction quantitative" a ete utilise comme mesure de son degre de confirmation. La validite des resultats obtenus apartir de ce modele mathematique a ete comparee aux criteres classiques d'evaluation des rapports ethnomedicinaux.Although Western scientific medicine is accessible to the Luo of Nyanza Province, Kenya, many people continue to depend, at least in part, on herbal remedies. Siaya District is a rural area where practitioners of herbal medicine remain active and where opportunities exist to record and evaluate this aspect of the traditional health care of the Luo.In undertaking an ethnomedicinal survey ofthis district we encountered several methodological problems inherent in ethnobotanical work. These focus around the question of the criteria on which to assess the importance of reports from individuals in the collective pharmacopeia of the region. Inconsistency in the information received from informants is compounded by the uneven spatial distribution of plant resources and by the prevalence of certain disease conditions compared to others. Concurrently, if one wants to identify plants that might be I

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract