Africa Medicinal Plants (2024)

A review of antimalarial plants used intraditional medicine in communities in Portuguese-Speaking countries: Brazil,Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola

Luanda - The chairman of the Angola's Traditional MedicineForum, Avo Kitoko, said Monday in Luanda that 74% of the Angolan populationuses medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases.

Speaking at the firstNational Conference on Traditional Medicine, Avo Kitoko recalled that theAngolan Constitution establishes the promotion of policies that make primaryhealthcare free as one of the tasks of the State.He also said, the AngolanExecutive has drafted a national policy on traditional medicine andcomplementary practices, by organising the sector, allowing the recovery of thetherapist and rescue of the traditions of the Angolan people, as part of theircultural heritage.

The 1st NationalConference on Traditional Medicine is the result of a process of publicconsultations at country’s level, through regional forums organised by theExecutive, with the participation of the civil society. He also recalled thatone of the main objectives of the forum is to integrate the practice oftraditional medicine into the national health care system, in order to ensureeffective health assistance and safety. The event takes place inhttp://www.portalangop.co.ao/angola/en_us/noticias/saude/2012/7/32/Angola-population-uses-medicinal-plants,c7cd3712-966a-4479-8d38-0dc1a49eeb11.html

Luanda under the motto"Rescue and recovery of traditional medicine to the health service".

Ethnobotanicalstudies on some medicinal plants in

Tanzania

AntiepilepticMedicinal Plants Used in Traditional Medicine to Treat Epilepsy

Epilepsyis a disease that affects about 40 million people worldwide (Njamshi et al.,2010). In 1968, the prevalence of epilepsy in Africa was about 4.8 to 40 ‰. In1996, Diop and collaborators reported in Senegal a prevalence of epilepsy of 21‰ (Diop et al., 1996). In 2006, Ngoungou and collaborators estimated theprevalence in sub-Saharan Africa to be two or three time highest than the ratein developed world (Ngoungou et al., 2007). In Cameroon, some epidemiologicalstudies on epilepsy have shown that, the prevalence of epilepsy is estimated tovary from 5-136/1000. The highest ones are reported in some villages of theCameroon Central Province located in the Sanaga and Mbam River Valley (NchojiNkwi & Tioko Ndonko, 1989; Dongmo et al., 2000; Preux et al., 2000;Boussinesq et al., 2002; Kamgno et al., 2003; Dongmo et al., 2004; Prischich etal., 2008). Cameroon is one of the countries most affected by epilepsy inAfrica and in the world. Thus, epilepsy is among the major public healthproblems in Cameroon. In Africa and in Cameroon particularly, phytotherapy intraditional medicine still plays an important role in the management of diseases,mainly among populations with very low income (Geoffrey & Kirby, 1996).

Nationalpolicy on traditional medicine and regulation of herbal medicines Report of aWHO global survey Traditional medicine (TM) has always maintained itspopularity worldwide. In addition, over the last decade, we have seen anincreasing use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in manydeveloped and developing countries. The safety and efficacy of traditionalmedicine and complementary and alternative medicines, as

wellas quality control, have become important concerns for both health authorities andthe public. Various traditional medicine practices have been developed indifferent cultures in

differentregions, but without a parallel development of international standards and appropriatemethods for evaluating traditional medicine. Therefore, sharing national

experienceand information is crucial.

ETHNOBOTANYOF SOME SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS

Accessto healthcare facilities in Ghana is very poor as one medical doctor is to morethan 6,000 people (Africapedia, 2007), with majority of them practicing in thetwo largest cities of Accra and Kumasi. According to Gbile (1988) about 80% ofthe population in Africa uses plant medicine partly due to poverty and insufficientnumber of medical professionals. Medicinal plants therefore play an importantrole in our healthcare delivery but over-reliance on wild collections resultsin dwindling of the resource. The current rate of forest degradation, intensiveexploitation and utilization of the various medicinal plants across the WestAfrican sub region pose serious threats to the continued availability of theseinvaluable forest resources. Indigenous knowledge on the utilization andconservation of these species are being lost as the old custodians of theknowledge pass away. Also, parts

ofthe plants often harvested are those used for anchorage, nutrient uptake, photosynthesisand regeneration by the plants. These threaten the plants natural regeneration,vigorous stand development and continuous existence of the species in naturalecosystem. There is therefore the need for deliberate and concerted efforts todevelop appropriate conservation and sustainable management strategies forthreatened or endangered medicinal plant species. The selected species wereidentified through a major study that involved a comparative analysis onutilization and availability of medicinal plants in Ghana

(Oforiet al., 2010)

Antimicrobialnatural products

Theindiscriminate use of antimicrobial agents resulted in the emergence ofdrug-resistant bacteria, fungi and viruses. Various populations in developingcountries are using medicinal plants against infectious diseases by accidental

discovery,and trust in the benefit of their use. To overcome the increased resistance ofpathogenic microbes, researchers are using traditional knowledge as source ofdevelopment of new drugs with high antimicrobiotic potential.

Theuse of phytochemicals as natural antimicrobial agents, commonly called“biocides”, is gaining popularity. There is a growing interest among themedical proprieties of medicinal plants in terms of antibacterial activity.Several

compoundsin the essential oil of plants have been recognized for many years as havingantibacterial proprieties [2] and their preparations have found applications asnaturally antimicrobial agents in several fields.

In the ongoing search for better antibacterialcompounds, plant-derived products are gaining ground [3,4]. Essential oils,plant extracts prepared by distillation, are composed by a huge diversity ofsmall hydrophobic molecules, most of them accomplishing theoretical criteria ofdruglike prediction [5]. Such molecules easily diffuse across cell membranes, andconsequently gain advantage in what concerns interactions with intracellulartargets, this being a valuable research option in the search of anti-bacterialleads and drugs [6]. C. citratus (DC) Stapf, Family Poaceae, is a widely usedherb in tropical countries viz. Southeast Asia, Africa and South America and isalso known as a source of ethno medicines.

C.citratus is commonly used in folk medicine in Angola for the treatment ofgastrointestinal disturbances, and as an antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory,anti-pyretic, and diuretic treatment. Some studies have demonstrated its

antimicrobialactivity, specifically antibacterial, antifungal, and antiprotozoal properties;On the other hand, many aromatic plants are today considered as the mostimportant sources for extraction of compounds with strong antioxidant activity.Numerous studies have focused on the various biological activities of thesecondary metabolites of several aromatic species, indicating that severalaromatic plants have antioxidant activity. In addition, aromatic plants are gainingthe interest of pharmaceutical companies for their high potential asantioxidant, these being Rosemary, the first spice commercially available forthe use as an antioxidant in Europe and USA, marked in an oil soluble form, indry powder and also in water soluble formulations [7].

Angola

The use of some Indigenous Plants for Medicinaland other Purposes by Local Communities in Namibia with Emphasis on OshikotoRegion: A Review

Local communities in Namibia possess anin-depth knowledge of the use ofmedicinal plantsand their environment. Medicinal plants contribute significantly to theintellectual property rights of poor local households in theses localcommunities. This review gives an overview of the use of indigenous knowledgeheld by traditional healers, the uses of indigenous plants for medicinal andother purposes, medicinal preparation methods and treated diseases in differentparts of Namibia, in particular the Oshikoto region. Factors threatening theexistence of themedicinal plantsare discussed and the gaps in the indigenous knowledge on the uses of themedicinal plantsare also presented. This review strongly recommends the importance of properand comprehensive documentation of the traditional healing methods in Namibia,which will have a high potential for sustainable development for themedicinal plantsin Namibia.

At 52, Janaki Devi, a traditional healer in the state ofUttarakhand, India, may not have received a formal education, yet theproficiency with which she prescribes herbal medicines has people travel fromfar and wide to consult her.

Up until a few yearsago, traditional healers like Janaki inherited their skills from their familiesor through word-of-mouth. With fewer people from the younger generationinterested in the profession, and no record or inventory of India’s numerousmedicinal plants, their uses and appropriate harvesting techniques, this uniqueoral knowledge was at risk.

Nutritionaland Medicinal value of the edible stinkbug, Encosternum delegorguei Spinolaconsumed in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and its host plant Dodonaeaviscosa Jacq. var. Angustifolia

ABSTRACT.—TheAfrican diaspora to the Americas was one of plants as well as people. Europeanslavers provisioned their human cargoes with African and other Old World usefulplants, which enabled their enslaved work force and free maroons to establishthem in their gardens. Africans were additionally familiar with many Asianplants from earlier crop exchanges with the Indian subcontinent. Their effortsestablished these plants in the contemporary Caribbean plant corpus. Therecognition of pantropical genera of value for food, medicine, and in the practiceof syncretic religions also appears to have played an important role in survival,as they share similar uses among black populations in the Caribbean as well astropical Africa. This paper, which focuses on the plants of the Old World tropicsthat became established with slavery in the Caribbean, seeks to illuminate

thebotanical legacy of Africans in the circum-Caribbean region

NewInsights in Staging and Chemotherapy of African Trypanosomiasis and PossibleContribution of Medicinal Plants

HumanAfrican trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness is a severe fly-bornedisease caused by protozoan of the species Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.). Thisdisease was first described by European explorers by the late 1800s and

early1900s even if this disease has probably existed in Africa for many centuries[1]. The disease occurs in foci in the tsetse fly (Glossina spp) “belt”, a vastgeographical region ranging from the Sahara to the Kalahari Desert equivalentto “the combined size of the United States, India and Western Europe” wherethese flies have their habitat [2–5]. Three major epidemics of HAT occurred inAfrica during the last century, of which the most devastating (which killed millionsof persons) occurred from the 1930s to the 1960s [6]. The colonialadministrations established mobile teams which systematically screened peoplein the endemic areas,

curingthose found with the disease