5TH African Association of Physiologists Conference, August 2008

Pharmacoepidemiology and bioprospecting of herbal medicines in three Districts in Kenya.

Nanyingi O Mark1*, Wagate G Cyrus1, Gakuya W Daniel2, Kipsengeret B. Koros1, 3, James M Mbaria1

1Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nairobi P.O Box 29053-00625 Nairobi Kenya
2 Department of Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nairobi P.O Box 29053-00625 Nairobi Kenya
3 Center for Public Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, P.O. Box 54840, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya

A comparative ethnomedicinal study was conducted to document the indigenous medicinal plant knowledge, use and extinction threats in Samburu, Machakos and Kitui Districts of Kenya from December 2006 to May 2007. Data were collected from 300 randomly selected respondents using semi-structured interviews and observations in order to examine the present use of medicinal plants and their reputed therapeutic effects. Sixty-four ethnomedicinal plant species used by traditional healers to manage sixty two different veterinary and medical conditions were identified and documented. Healers' and respondents indigenous knowledge was positively correlated with their reported age but not with their educational level. High degree of consensus was observed among traditional healers in harvesting, preparation and administration of the herbal remedies. Those most frequently reported had therapeutic value for treating gastrointestinal and respiratory syndromes as analgesic/anti-inflammatory and antitusive agents. The frequently managed conditions included malaria and tick-borne diseases. The use of more than one species was significantly cited for remedy preparations. The reported abundance of the ethnomedicinal plant species varied significantly with respect to the presence of multiple uses of the reported species. Our results showed that the local population had high ethnobotanical knowledge and that the ethnomedicinal plant species are under serious threat prompting the need for urgent attention towards their conservation and sustainable utilization. Ethnobotany and pharmacoepidemiology adds value to herbal medicines and it is fundamental in pharmacognosy, bioprospecting and high throughput screening (HTS) of novel drug molecules.