Seifu, Tesfaye (2004) Ethnobotanical and Ethnopharmaceutical Studies on Medicinal Plants of Chifra District, Afar Region, North Eastern Ethiopia. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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PDF (Ethnobotanical and Ethnopharmaceutical Studies on Medicinal Plants of Chifra District, Afar Region, North Eastern Ethiopia)
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Abstract
Medicinal plants have not been well studied, tested or documented in Afar region, North Eastern Ethiopia. Most of the information is still in the hands of the traditional healers. A study was carried out during Nov.2002 – May 2003 to explore ethnobotanical information on the use of medicinal plants by Afar people in 13 rural communities of Chifra District, Afar Region, North Eastern Ethiopia. Based on the information found from ethnic leaders, 29 traditional medicine practitioners were interviewed by using pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. A total of 70 plant species were reported for their medicinal use in the district. Of these, 33 were fully identified by their botanical name, 10 at generic level and 27 couldn’t be identified and were recorded only by their vernacular names. 15% of the identified species belong to the family Fabaceae. Among 144 ethnoformulations reported, the majority were liquid preparations followed by unprocessed herbs and powder. The most widely used solvent to prepare the formulations was water. Size reduction, extraction and filtration were the most commonly employed unit processes in the formulation. Intranasal route of administration was frequently used next to oral route. Polyherbal preparations were common in order to have synergistic or summation effect. Although there is difficulty of determining accurate dose, the practitioners have an idea of dose and frequency of herbal preparations. Side effects are reported only for Aloe sp in therapeutic dose. Most of the oral herbal drugs are contraindicated for pregnant women. The practitioners have no idea of drug interactions and shelf life of the reported plant species. The data were analyzed using the concept of healer consent in order to identify culturally important medicinal plants. The medicinal uses of the plants were grouped into 9 disorder categories to have the factor of informant’s consensus (Fic) for each group. Accordingly, snakebite had the highest value (0.53) indicating the dependence of the practitioners on certain plants for the indication. The most frequentlyrecorded medicinal plants of the Afar people were Aloe sp. used for the treatment of “Urribaqla”, malaria, abdominal cramp, TB and pasterlosis; Acalypha sp. for snakebite, blackleg, anthrax, “Barelitta”and impotence. The medicinal plants were assessed using published phytochemical and pharmacological data. Of the fully identified 33 medicinal plant species, the claimed medicinal uses of the six were in good agreement with other similar studies and pharmacological activity tests reported elsewhere. The medicinal uses of most of the reported plant species have not been documented in other parts of the country. This study underlines the need for further exploration of ethnobotanical information in the region and the results will be used as a basis for subsequent studies on pharmacology, phytochemistry and toxicology of medicinal plant.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology R Medicine > RS Pharmacy and materia medica |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Emmanuel Ndorimana |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2018 12:01 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2018 12:01 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/8203 |
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