Antimalarial Plants Used across Kenyan Communities

Abstract

Malaria is one of the serious health problems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Its treatment has been met with chronic failure due to pathogenic resistance to the currently available drugs. This review attempts to compile phytotherapeutical information on antimalarial plants in Kenya based on electronic data. A comprehensive web search was conducted in multidisciplinary databases, and a total of 286 plant species from 75 families, distributed among 192 genera, were retrieved. Globally, about 139 (48.6%) of the species have been investigated for antiplasmodial (18%) or antimalarial activities (97.1%) with promising results. However, there is no record on the antimalarial activity of about 51.4% of the species used although they could be potential sources of antimalarial remedies. Analysis of ethnomedicinal recipes indicated that mainly leaves (27.7%) and roots (19.4%) of shrubs (33.2%), trees (30.1%), and herbs (29.7%) are used for preparation of antimalarial decoctions (70.5%) and infusions (5.4%) in Kenya. The study highlighted a rich diversity of indigenous antimalarial plants with equally divergent herbal remedy preparation and use pattern. Further research is required to validate the therapeutic potential of antimalarial compounds from the unstudied claimed species. Although some species were investigated for their antimalarial efficacies, their toxicity and safety aspects need to be further investigated.

Ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, and phytochemistry of traditional medicinal plants used in the management of symptoms of tuberculosis in East Africa: a systematic review

“…Relevant literature pertaining the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, efficacy and safety of medicinal plants utilized in management of symptoms of TB in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan were re-trieved from Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar [23][24][25]. Key search words such as tuberculosis, mycobacteria, tuberculosis symptoms, tuberculosis treatment, vegetal, antituberculosis, antitubercular, antimycobacterial, cough, traditional medicine, ethnobotany, alternative medicine, and ethnopharmacology combined with either Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, or South Sudan were used.…”

Intraspecific Variation of Phytochemicals, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Activities of Different Solvent Extracts of Albizia coriaria Leaves from Some Agroecological Zones of Uganda

“…e whole plant, leaves, stem, and root barks, roots, seeds, and flowers are used in Uganda for the treatment of cancers, malaria, coronary diseases, allergy, nausea, headaches, mental illness, diarrhea, cough (tuberculosis), typhoid, anemia, syphilis, constipation, fevers, postpartum hemorrhage, snakebites, sore throats, herpes zoster, menorrhagia, threatened abortion, skin diseases, jaundice, and steam fumigation treatments for sore eyes and as an aphrodisiac and a general tonic [10,19,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. In other African countries, this species is used in the treatment of malaria, helminthiasis, tuberculosis, diarrhea, breast, skin, and uterine cancers, menorrhagia, hypertension, dermatological conditions, threatened abortion, venereal diseases, sore eyes, lungworms/ascaris worms (in cattle, sheep, and goats), and gastrointestinal infections and as toothbrush (Miswak) and mosquito repellent, that is, logs burnt with cow dung [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48].…”

Formulation and In Vitro Evaluation of Oral Capsules from Liquid Herbal Antimalarials Marketed in Ghana

“…The use of natural medicines in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), now exceeds by two to three times that of orthodox medications. Globally, over 1,200 plant species are known to be used for the treatment and management of malaria [ 7 – 9 ].…”