Medicinal plants used for management of malaria among the Luhya community of Kakamega East sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

BackgroundMalaria remains a major health problem worldwide especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, 80% of the population is at risk of contracting the disease. Pregnant mothers and children under five years are the most affected by this disease. Antimalarial drug resistance poses a major threat in the fight against malaria necessitating continuous search for new antimalarial drugs. Due to inadequate and inaccessible health facilities, majority of people living in rural communities heavily depend on traditional medicine which involves the use of medicinal plants for the management of malaria. Most of these indigenous knowledge is undocumented and risks being lost yet such information could be useful in the search of new antimalarial agents.Aim of studyAn ethnobotanical survey was carried out among the Luhya community of Kakamega East sub-County, a malaria epidemic region, with the aim of documenting the plants used in the management of malaria.Materials and methodsSemi-structured questionnaires were used to collect information from 21 informants who included traditional medicine practitioners and other caregivers who had experience in use of plants in management of malaria. These were drawn from 4 villages located in Kakamega East sub-county, within Kakamega County based on their differences in topography. Information recorded included plant names, parts used, mode of preparation and administration and the sources of plant materials. A literature search was conducted using PubMed and google scholar to identify the reported traditional uses of these plants and studied antiplasmodial activities.ResultsIn this study, 57% of the informants were aged above 50 years and a total of 61% had either no formal education or had only attained primary school education. A total of 42 plant species belonging to 24 families were identified. Most plants used in the management of malaria in this community belonged to Lamiaceae (18%), Leguminosae (9%) and Compositae (9%) plant families. Plants mostly used included Melia azedarach L, Aloe spp, Ajuga integrifolia Buch. Ham, Vernonia amygdalina Del., Rotheca myricoides (Hochst.) Steane and Mabb, Fuerstia africana T.C.E.Fr., Zanthoxylum gilletii (De Wild.) P.G.Waterman and Leucas calostachys Oliv. Rumex steudelii Hochst.ex A. Rich and Phyllanthus sepialis Müll. Arg are reported for the first time in the management of malaria. Although Clerodendrum johnstonii Oliv. (Jeruto et al., 2011) and Physalis peruviana L.(Ramadan et al., 2015) are reported in other studies for management of malaria, no studies have been carried out to demonstrate their antiplasmodial activity.The plant parts mostly used were the leaves (36%) and stem barks (26%). Majority of these plants were prepared as decoctions by boiling and allowed to cool before administration (66%) while infusions accounted for 28% of the preparations. The literature mined supports the use of these plants for the management of malaria since most of them have demonstrated in-vitro and in-vivo antiplasmodial activities.ConclusionMost of t...

An Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Knowledge and Uses of Medicinal Wild Plants among the Marakwet Community in Kenya

“…Although there are numerous reports, published work, thesis, dissertations, books, inventories, media reports, and monographs of the diversity of medicinal plants within the tropical environment [25][26][27][28][29][30], most of these knowledge are still based purely on scientific work that totally excludes the contribution of the local community members and does not reflect TMK. Of interest is that the majority of the works so far carried out in developing countries largely focus on the inventories, utilization, and conservation of medicinal plants [21,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. Various sets of recommendations have been compiled relating to the conservation of medicinal plants, such as those associated with international conferences at Chiang Mai, ailand, in 1988 and Bangalore, India, in 1998 (http://www.…”

“…Regardless, there is little application of TMK on these inventories. ere is enormous knowledge on the use of indigenous medicinal plants in Kenya over the last decades (e.g., [30,32,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42]). In light of this, therefore, there is a high expectation of enormous traditional knowledge of medicinal plant species in Kenya due to the use of diverse plant species, diversity of cultures, diverse languages, and beliefs among the different ethnic groups in Kenya.…”

Phytochemical-constituents, safety and efficacy of commonly used medicinal plants for the treatment of malaria in Ethiopia-a review

“…Some of the medicinal plant species studied by ethnobotanical survey and experimental study, in this study were also medicinally used for malaria treatment in other African countries. [87][88][89][90][91] Allium sativum, Croton macrostachyus and Carica papaya were the more frequently cited species of medicinal plants by ethnobotanical study in Ethiopia for malaria treatment which was comparable to another study and Withania somnifera and Croton macrostachyus were commonly used by most of the traditional practitioners in other part of Ethiopia. [92][93][94] Phytochemical-constituents, safety and efficacy of commonly used medicinal plants for the treatment of malaria in Ethiopia-a review 292…”

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“…[108,181] Aloin and aloe emodin in A. vera show antiplsomodial potential. [182] and A. pulcherrima leaves showed antiplasmodial activities [183] while its latex antimalarial activity [184] is used by Luhya Community of Kakamega East sub-County, Kenya; [185 ] A new compound, 9-dihydroxyl-2'-O-(Z)-cinnamoyl-7methoxy-aloesin (1), and eight known compounds (2-9) were isolated from Aloe vera tyrosinase inhibitory activity in Pepper mild mottle virus. [186] The extracts show better antimicrobial activity against bacterial strains as compared to fungal strains.…”