An ethnobotanical study of plants used for the treatment of malaria in Budondo sub-county, Eastern Uganda
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Abstract
Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity
and mortality in most developing countries, and in
Uganda over 95% of the country is endemic with
malaria. Given the increasing widespread resistance to
current drugs, the use of herbal medicines is seen as a
sustainable solution to malaria treatment. This study
documented medicinal plants that are traditionally used
for the treatment of malaria in Budondo sub-county,
Eastern Uganda.
Methods: The ethnobotanical survey was conducted
between December 2017 to January 2018. A total of
273 household members were interviewed on
knowledge and use of anti-malarial plants, using semistructured
questionnaires administered in five parishes
of Budondo sub-county. Voucher specimen of each
plant species were preserved at the Makerere
University herbarium, Uganda.
Results: Overall, 97.5% of the respondents had
knowledge regarding the plants used to treat malaria. A
chi-square analysis shows a significant association
between respondents’ knowledge regarding antimalarial
plants and gender (p-value =0.008) and
occupation (p-value =0.025) but not with age (p-value
=0.379), educational status (p-value =0.066), average
monthly income (p-value =0.419), and religious
affiliation (p-value =0.064) of respondents. A total of 37
plant species, belonging to 25 plant families were used
to treat malaria. The most cited plant was Vernonia
amygdalina Delile (64.8%), followed by Aloe vera (L.)
Burm.f. (41.9%), Callistemon citrinus (Curt.) Stapf
(29.3%), Mormodica feotida Schumach (22.0%),
Cyphostemma adenocaule (A. Rich) wild & Drumm.
(16.1%) and Eucalyptus globulus Labill. (15.4%).
Among the plant parts, stem bark (99.6%) and leaves
(90.8%) were the most frequently used. The habits of
the plants encountered were shrub, tree, herb, rhizomes
and climber. The commonest modes of preparation
included boiling in water, squeezing fresh leaves,
crushing and pounding, and chewing. Oral
route/drinking was the most common mode of
administration, followed by steam inhaling of vapours
from the aqueous extracts and skin bathing.
Conclusion: The present study shows that the people
living in Budondo sub-county traditionally use diverse
flora to treat malaria. Further investigations are required
to evaluate the potential toxicological effects and to
isolate the active components of the reported plants
whose antimalarial activities have not been investigated
which could be developed into effective, safe and
affordable anti-malarial medicines in the future.
Description
Keywords
Anti-malarial plants, Ethnobotanical knowledge, Malaria, Medicinal plants, Traditional medicine, Uganda
Citation
Malinga, G. M., Baana, K., Rutaro, K., Opoke, R., Atube, F., Opika-Opoka, H., & Oryema, C. (2020). An ethnobotanical study of plants used for the treatment of malaria in Budondo sub-county, Eastern Uganda. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 19, 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.32859/era.19.04.1-15