Antimalarial herbal remedies of Msambweni, Kenya
Date
2010Author
Nguta, J M
Mbaria, J M
Gakuya, D W
Gathumbi, P K
Kiama, S G
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Malaria is a serious cause of mortality globally. The disease is of regional concern in Africa and of national
interest in Kenya due to its high morbidity and mortality as a result of development of resistant strains
of Plasmodium falciparum to many existing drugs such as chloroquine. Alternative medicine using herbal
remedies are commonly used to treat malaria in Kenya. However, plants used in some rural areas in
Kenya are not documented. Many antimalarial drugs have been derived from plants. This study was conducted
to document medicinal plants that are traditionally used by theMsambwenicommunity of Kenyan
South Coast to treat malaria, where the disease is endemic. Herbalists were interviewed by administration
of semistructured questionnaires in order to obtain information on medicinal plants traditionally
used for the treatment of malaria. Focused group discussions held with the herbalists supplemented
the interview and questionnaire survey. Twenty-seven species of plants in 24 genera distributed in 20
families were reported to be used in this region for the treatment of malaria. Labiatae, Rutaceae and
Liliaceae families had each eleven percent of the plant species reported and represented the species that
are most commonly used. Thirteen plant species, namely; Aloe deserti Berger (Liliaceae), Launea cornuta
(Oliv and Hiern) C. Jeffrey (Compositae), Ocimum bacilicum L. (Labiatae), Teclea simplicifolia (Eng) Verdoon
(Rutaceae), Gerranthus lobatus (Cogn.) Jeffrey (Cucurbitaceae), Grewia hexaminta Burret. (Tiliaceae),
Canthium glaucum Hiern. (Rubiaceae), Amaranthus hybridus L. (Amaranthaceae), Combretum padoides Engl
and Diels. (Combretaceae), Senecio syringitolius O. Hoffman. (Compositae), Ocimum suave Willd (Labiatae),
Aloe macrosiphon Bak. (Liliaceae) and Laudolphia buchananii (Hall.f) Stapf. (Apocynaceae) are documented
from this region for the first time for the treatment of malaria. These results become a basis for selection
of plants for further pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies in developing new plant
based antimalarial drugs.
Citation
Journal of Ethnopharmacology 128 (2010) 424–432Publisher
Department of Public Health, pharmacology and Toxicology Department of clinical studies