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NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND MALARIA. Dr. Joseph M Nguta, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI. Natural products from plants as drug sources.
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NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND MALARIA Dr. Joseph M Nguta, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
Natural products from plants as drug sources • The material culture of every civilization throughout the world is based more on plants than on animals. • People of the earth have depended for along time on plants as a source of food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medicines, rituals and traditions • The plant kingdom met the health needs of humans when no synthetic drugs were available and no concept of surgical management existed
Cont. • The world has witnessed growing scientific and commercial interests in medicinal plants, mainly due to their immense economic potential and the widespread cultural acceptability of plant based products. • An inventory of medicinal plants compiled by WHO lists 21,000 species of medicinal plants. • According to WHO, 80% of the 5 billion people in the dev. World rely on herbal remedies for their basic health care needs.
Cont. • The dev. world is rich in natural resourses, including floral resources • However, the south's floral wealth has not been utilized for the benefit of its people.
Antimalarial plants in South Coast, Kenya • Nguta et al., Journal of ethnopharmacology 2010a, 128: 424-432 • 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 by the parasite makes the necessity for research in new antimalarial drugs • One possible solution is to carry out research on to the traditionally used herbal remedies
STUDY AREA Msambweni district
Objective of the study • To establish an inventory of plants and formulations used to manage Malaria in Msambweni community
The study • How do they identify malaria? • Which plants do they use to manage malaria? • 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?
How the Study was done • Semistructured questionnaires and interviews • Focused group discussion • Botanical identification of the collected plants by a taxonomist • Information gathered included • plant species • parts used • plant habit • method of preparation • dosage • vernacular names
Ethnodiagnosis • The most frequently mentioned symptoms • fever • joint pains • vomiting • tiredness • Loss of appetite • headache
Commonly used plants • 27 species in 24 genera distributed in 20 families were documented. • 13 species were reported for the first time • The most commonly used species were • Azadirachta indica (L) Burm. (95%) • Zanthoxylum chalybeum (Eng) Engl. (25%) • Aloe deserti Berger. (25%) • Harrisonia abyssinica Oliv. (15%) • Ricinus communis L.(10%)
Conclusion • The commonly used plants were Azadirachta indica (L) Burm, Zanthoxylum chalybeum (Eng) Engl and Aloe deserti Berger. • 13 plant species are documented for the first time for the treatment of malaria • Some species documented in this study have been widely used as antimalarials in other continents e.g Ricinus communis, Lantana camara • The leaves were the most commonly used part • Roots were the second most commonly used plant part-and this calls for conservation and good harvesting practices
Way forward • Toxicological screening of crude extracts as used by the south coast community
Acknowledgements • The Carnegie Corporation of New York • Nairobi Node-RISE-AFNNET) • The community of Msambweni district • University of Nairobi • COLLABORATORS: • KIAMA GITAHI • JAMES MBARIA • DANIEL GAKUYA • PETER GATHUMBI
