By Abdi Ali
Published May 10, 2020
Epidemics like Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola, Zika and Yellow Fever may make us jump with fear and apprehension. But did you know that Malaria is a major health problem, and that 3.2 Billion people around the world are at risk of infection and death? That people living in Africa south of the Sahara are particularly more vulnerable? Do you know that in 2015 alone 214 million people caught malaria and that 438,000 of them died from malaria globally? But why has malaria never been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation of the United Nations?
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.
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Consequently, researchers are carrying out studies with the aim of documenting the plants used in the management of malaria.
One such survey is Medicinal Plants Used for Management of Malaria among the Luhya Community of Kakamega East sub-County, Kenya by Nillian Mukungua, Kennedy Abuga, Faith Okalebo, Raphael Ingwela, and Julius Mwangi and whose full results have been published in Journal of Ethnopharmacology and on elsevier.com/ and sciencedirect.com/ by Elsevier Ireland Ltd that projects itself as ‘a global information analytics business specializing in science and health’.
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The ethnobotanical survey was carried out among the Luhya community of Kakamega East sub-County, a malaria epidemic region.
Kakamega East District, the focus of this study, is also the setting of The Braggart’s Day, an award-winning children’s story by Ogova Ondego that is described by Kenya’s Directorate of Culture as ‘a glimpse into the richness of the fast-diminishing African village life’ and as ‘an invaluable source to students of social sciences, environmental studies and philosophy’
In the book, the thought of a 12-year-old boy’s sick sister in bed not only denies him joy but also forces him to seek a cure for her from the dark and impenetrable equatorial rain forest. In spite of the dangers lurking behind the sky-clutching trees,man-eating plants, angry rivers that swallow cattle and octopus-like creepers whose numerous tentacles and tendrils trap and consume anything that comes in their way. Yes, like the rest of the residents around Kakamega Forest, Karaha’s family depended on plants for medicine, food, cosmetics, fuel, insecticides and building material.
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Kakamega East District, the setting of the ethnobotanical survey and the children’s book, ‘is mainly a rural set-up with no single urban center. The entire district is served with only dispensaries and health centers. The nearest high level health facility, Kakamega County hospital, is located some 20 km away.
Kakamega forest, the only tropical rain forest in Kenya and the main source of herbal medicines for rural communities in the region, is located in Kakamega East District.
Though The Braggart’s Day was first published in 2005 and Medicinal Plants Used for Management of Malaria among the Luhya Community of Kakamega East in 2016, both appear to call for conservation for posterity.
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The researchers say they used semi-structured questionnaires 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.
In this study, the researchers say, 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.
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“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,” the researchers say. “Most of the reported plant species in this study have been investigated for antiplasmodial activity and are in agreement with the ethnomedical use. Two (2) plants are reported for the first time in the management of malaria. There is need for documentation and preservation of the rich ethnomedical knowledge within this community given that most of the practitioners are advanced in age and less educated. There is also the danger of over-exploitation of plant species as most of them are obtained from the wild, mainly Kakamega forest. Therefore, there is need for determining the economically and medicinally important plants in this community and planning for their preservation.”
