Traditional healers and the management of malaria in Kisumu district, Kenya

Abstract

Objective: To document the ethnobotanical information on malaria treatment with the goal of eventually testing the medicinal plant extracts for antiplasmodial activity.

Design: A prospective study.

Setting: Informants from Kisumu City and its environs were gathered at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Vector Biology Control Research, Kisian, Kisumu.

Interventions: Semi-structured Questionnaires were administered to 16 traditional health practitioners (THPs) to evaluate the THPs' perceptions and practice relating to causation and treatment of malaria.

Main outcome measures: The THPs described the signs, symptoms and cause of malaria. Details of the preparation and use of plants for management of malaria were recorded.

Results: Of the 16 respondents 12 (75%) knew that malaria is transmitted by mosquito bite and 12 (75%) recognised the main symptoms as fever. Of the 36 medicinal plants, claimed to treat malaria in Kisumu, 19 plants were identified at the East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya.

Conclusion: The ethnomedical and ethnobotanical data generated form the basis for pharmacological evaluation of the medicinal plants collected to establish their potential in the treatment of malaria.