Medicinal Plants and Their Traditional Uses in Local Communities around Cherangani Hills, Western Kenya.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mbuni YM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7154930 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Medicinal Plants and Their Traditional Uses in Local Communities around Cherangani Hills, Western Kenya.
Mbuni Yuvenalis M YM Wang Shengwei S Mwangi Brian N BN Mbari Ndungu J NJ Musili Paul M PM Walter Nyamolo O NO Hu Guangwan G Zhou Yadong Y Wang Qingfeng Q
Plants (Basel, Switzerland) 20200305 3
<b>*</b> Correspondence: zhouyd@wbgcas [...]. ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundThe use of animals and animal-derived materials in traditional medicine constitutes an important part of the belief systems of indigenous African cultures. It is believed to be rapidly expanding in South Africa, where traditional healers are estimated to outnumber western doctors by 2000:1 in some areas, with an overall clientele consisting of 60-80% of South African citizens. Despite concerns about the impact of the trade in traditional medicine on biodiversity, there has been only limited research on this topic in South Africa.MethodsTraditional Xhosa and Sotho healers operating from impoverished, rural communities in the Boland Region of the Western Cape Province were consulted to provide a comprehensive inventory of the number and frequency of animals used and sold. Species richness estimators, diversity indices, and a relative cultural importance (RCI) index were used to highlight species of concern and assess market dynamics.ResultsA total of 26 broad use categories for 12 types of animal parts or products from 71 species or morphospecies were recorded. The most commonly sold items were skin pieces, oil or fat, and bones. Results showed that leopard, chacma baboon, Cape porcupine, monitor lizard species, puff adder, African rock python, and black-backed jackal were the species most used in the traditional medicinal trade.ConclusionsThis study extends existing knowledge on the trade of animals in South African healing practices and provides the first attempt in the Western Cape to quantify wildlife use for cultural traditions. The results have relevance for setting conservation priorities and may assist in effective policy development inclusive of ecological sustainability priorities, as well as cultural demands.
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Project description:In traditional folklore, medicinal herbs play a vital role in the prevention and treatment of microbial diseases. In the present study, the phenolic profiles of the medicinal plants Asparagus aethiopicus L., Citrullus colocynthis L., Senna alexandrina L., Kalanchoe delagoensis L., Gasteria pillansii L., Cymbopogon citratus, Brassica juncea, and Curcuma longa L. were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector method. The results revealed rich sources of important compounds such as robinin in the fruits and leaves of A. aethiopicus; caffeic acid in the tubers of A. aethiopicus and quercitrin in the leaves of G. pillansii. Further, relatively high antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal activities were observed in C. colocynthis fruit coat, S. alexandrina pods, and A. aethiopicus leaves, respectively. The relatively higher the bioactivities of plants extracts associated with the phenols in these plants, in particular, the more abundant the phenols. Therefore, it was concluded that the fruit coat of C. colocynthis, pods of S. alexandrina, and leaves of A. aethiopicus might be excellent sources of natural products. These plant extracts also have a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activities that could be used in the pharmaceutical industries and to control diseases.
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Project description:BackgroundA lot of emphasis is often placed on modern governance systems and little or no attention is given to traditional governance practices which remain largely undocumented. The study aimed at finding out important traditional and modern governance practices that regulate traditional medicine sector in Western Kenya.Materials and methodsThe study was carried out in selected market centres of Western Kenya where the identified traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) sell their traditional medicine. All consenting TMPs and professional experts were interviewed with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire. Purposive sampling design with elements of snowball techniques was employed in tracing competent traditional medicine (TM) experts and relevant professional experts. The data collected was processed in Microsoft Excel and descriptive statistics performed. Pearson's chi-square statistics was carried out to determine the significance of the traditional and modern governance data sets using the STATA software.ResultsModern governance practices were not significantly different in all the market centres surveyed (p = 0.080). Equally, the traditional governance practices were also not significantly different in all the selected market centres (p = 1.000).ConclusionsTraditional governance practices play an important role in the governance of traditional medicine and are shaped by the socio-cultural beliefs of the local communities. Modern governance practices, on the other hand, are widely perceived as top downregulation of the traditional medicine growing industry.
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