Transcript Slide 1

DEVELOPMENT OF ETHNOMEDICINES FOR
MANAGEMENT OF MALARIA IN MSAMBWENI
DISTRICT, KENYA
DR Joseph M Nguta,,
PhD Student,
RISE-AFNNET FELLOW
UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
MALARIA
 Malaria is the most difficult problem afflicting people in the
tropics
 In Africa, more than 100 million people are infected annually,
with a mortality of 1-1.5m a year
 Currently the drug of choice is artemesinin and its derivatives
 High rate of resistance development to drugs and chemicals
by the parasite and the vector respectively makes the
necessity for research in new antimalarial drugs a continuous
one
Introduction
 A source of these principles is the rich tropical flora.
 Medicinal plants traditionally used to treat malaria by the
Msambweni community of South Coast, Kenya are reported in
this study.
 27 species in 24 genera distributed in 20 families are
documented.
 13 species reported for the first time for the treatment of
malaria are discussed.
Methods
Msambweni district study site
Objectives of the study
• To establish an inventory of plants and formulations used to manage
Malaria in Msambweni community
• To determine the efficacy and toxicity of the priority plants and
formulation to the community.
• To isolate and characterize the bioactive compounds in the efficacious
plants extracts
• Develop appropriate formulations based on identified bioactive
compounds and indigenous knowledge
• To explore feasibility for commercialization
The study
• How do they identify STI?
• Which plants do the Samburu use to manage
STI?
• Which is the most preferred plant?
• Which part of plant do they use?
• How is it formulated
• Which is the route of administration?
• Are the plants readily available?
• Are the plants used safe?
General overview
Azadirachta indica form part of the vegetation
General overview
Stem bark from Azadirachta indica is used for
decoctions
Author conducting an interview in Mwaroni village, Diani
General overview
Palm trees form part of the vegetation
General overview
Author conducting an interview
Background
Why investigate/document antimalarial
phytotherapy remedies
 Provides a platform:
 For search for new antimalarials from natural products using
ethnobotanical approach
 Upto 80% of rural pop. In Africa depend on HMs.
 For evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the plants as
antimalarial remedies
 Majority of antimalarial drugs have been derived from
medicinal plants (Quinine, Artemisinin)
Background (Cont.)
 Provides a cost effective approach for the dev. Of new drugs
 Knowledge is transferred orally-hence danger of losing this
precious cultural heritage
 Rapid loss of natural habitats, traditional community life,
cultural diversity and knowledge of medicinal plants calls for
estb. of a large no. of ethnobotanical inventories
 Ethnobotanical information provides data for further
pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies
 Serves as an indication of species that may need further
ecological assessment on their regeneration status
 Provides an avenue for the validation of all claims of
therapeutic efficacy and safety: This may yield significant
benefit
Background (Cont.)
 therapeutic efficacy and safety: This may yield significant
benefit for primary healthcare, and also help create herbal
medicine market-with possibilities of adding value to
medicinal plants
 Helps in the preservation of traditional knowledge, since its
disappearance will make exploitation of plants difficult if not
impossible
 Indigenous comm. Thr. A period of long exp. With HMs are
likely to have retained those that are effective and tolerably
safe while discarding preparations with low efficacy or acute
toxicity.
 For identification and propagation of antimalarial herbs
Background (Cont.)
 Like A. annua which is the only way to take adequate
antimalarial medication to the villages and even to urban
areas.
 Challenges
 Drug discovery from nature is a time and resource consuming
activity.
 Getting information on medicinal plants and obtaining plant
materials for research is at times met with opposition by the
owners of IK, as it is regarded to be a top secret.
 Collection and taxonomic study of the biological material
takes months of intensive efferts
Background (Cont.)
 Some vulnerable and threatened plants are continuously
being depleted to extinction, losing some of them forever
from the face of the globe.
 Opportunities
 EA region is taxonomically considered to be a single floral
block , with high diversity of plant species, consisting of 21,
650 species, with 5000 from Kenya, 6000 from Uganda and
10,650 from Tanzania.
 This floral diversity and the use of many plant species in
traditional medicine has inspired enormous research efforts
to prospects for lead natural products for drug dev. Involving
both local and foreign research groups.
Background (Cont.)
 Chalcones, Flavanones and other flavonoids with varied
antiplasmodial activity has been isolated from Kenyan flora.
Methods (Cont.)
Collection of ethnomedical information
 Fieldwork carried out between May and August, 2009.
 Local people facilitated access to herbalists (15 men and 5
women; Mean age: 60 yrs)
 Semistructured questionnaires and interviews-used for
information on antimalarial plants
 A taxonomist conversant with the area flora was part of the
collection team
 Antimalarial plants as identified by the herbalists were
collected and identified by a taxonomist and voucher
specimens deposited at the LARMAT Herbarium, University
of Nairobi.
Methods (Cont.)
 Information gathered included plant species,
parts used, plant habit, method of
preparation, dosage and vernacular names.
Results
Plants commonly used for the treatment of malaria
 Meliaceae
Azadirachta indica (L) Burm. (JN 412; 422)
 Rutaceae
Zanthoxylum chalybeum (Eng) Engl. (JN 433)
 Liliaceae
Aloe deserti Berger. (JN 424)
 Simaroubaceae
Harrisonia abyssinica Oliv. (JN 438)
 Euphorbiaceae
Ricinus communis L.(JN 431)
Verbenaceae
 Lantana camara L.( JN 429)
Results
Plants commonly used for the treatment of malaria
 Compositae
Launea cornuta (Oliv and Hiern) C. Jeffrey (JN 410)
 Solanaceae
Solanum incanum L. (JN 46; 417)
 Labiatae
Ocimum bacilicum L. (JN 428)
 Bombacaceae
Adansonia digitata Linn. (JN 414; 415)
 Papilionaceae
Securidaca longepedunculata Fres. (JN 423)
 Rutaceae
Teclea simplicifolia (Eng) Verdoon (JN 413)
Results
Plants commonly used for the treatment of malaria
 Flacourtiaceae
Flacourtia indica (Burm.f) Merr. (JN 436)
 Liliaceae
Aloe vera (L) Webb.(JN 421)
 Cucurbitaceae
Gerranthus lobatus (Cogn.) Jeffrey (JN 405;406; 407)
 Labiatae
Plectranthus barbatus Andr. (JN 418; 419; 420)
 Moraceae
Ficus bussei Warp ex Mildbr and Burret.(JN 403; 404)
 Tiliaceae
Grewia hexaminta Burret. ( JN 401; 402)
Results
Plants commonly used for the treatment of malaria
 Rubiaceae
Canthium glaucum Hiern. (JN 426)
 Caesalpiniaceae
Cassia occidentalis L. (JN 425)
 Amaranthaceae
Amaranthus hybridus L. (JN 430)
 Combretaceae
Combretum padoides Engl and Diels. (JN 434)
 Compositae
Senecio syringitolius O. Hoffman. (JN 432)
 Rutaceae
Fagaropsis angolensis (Engl) Del. (JN 437)
Results
Plants commonly used for the treatment of malaria
 Labiatae
Ocimum suave Willd (JN 408; 409)
 Liliaceae
Aloe macrosiphon Bak. (JN 435)
 Apocynaceae
Laudolphia buchananii (Hall.f) Stapf. (JN 427)
Results
Habit of the species used in treatment of malaria
Results
Part of the species used in treatment of malaria.
Results
Frequency of the species in the families from Msambweni district
Discussion
 Study objective was to document plants used traditionally
against malaria by the Msambweni community.
 27 species in 24 genera and 20 families were documented
 13 species are documented for the first time for the
treatment of malaria
 Some species documented have been widely used as
antimalarials in other continents e.g Ricinus communis,
Lantana camara
 Roots were the second most commonly used plant part-and
this calls for conservation and good harvesting practices
 Antimalarial activity have been reported in some species
documented e.g. Zanthoxylum chalybeum, Ricinus communis
Discussion
 Harrisonia abyssinica, Azadirachta indica.
 Phytoconstituents have also been isolated from plant species
documented in the study e.g. Quinoline alkaloids isolated
from Zanthoxylum chalybeum, gedunin and nimbinin isolated
from Azadirachta indica
 Literature reviewed indicated that few toxicological studies
have been done on the plant species documented in this
study
 This calls for validation of all the safety claims by undertaking
detailed toxicological studies.
Conclusion
 Many plant species reported have been investigated for their
active principles and pharmacological activities, the latter
being in agreement with the ethnomedical uses reported in
this study.
 Few toxicological studies have been conducted
 13 plant species are documented for the first time for the
treatment of malaria
 Further documentation of TK on the use of HMs is
recommended
 Acceptability of antimalarial plants as effective remedies is
quite high among the Msambweni community.
 Msambweni community owns the TK presented in this study.
Any benefit from this work must be shared with them.
Acknowledgements
 The Carnegie Corporation of New York for financially
supporting this work through Regional Initiative in Science
and Technology (Carnegie-AIS-RISE) Natural Product Network
 The community of Msambweni district, for sharing their
knowledge and time with the author
 The Natural Product Research Team for their positive criticism
and constant encouragement
KAYA DIANI FOREST
KAYA DIANI FOREST
Voucher specimen
Author pressing voucher specimens
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