ETHNODIAGNOSTIC SKILLS OF THE DIGO

COMMUNITY FOR MALARIA: A LEAD TO TRADITIONAL BIOPROSPECTING?

Joseph M Nguta, Natural Product programme, PHPT

UNIVERSITY OF

NAIROBI

General overview

Azadirachta indica form part of the vegetation

Author conducting an interview in Mwaroni village, Diani

General overview

Palm trees form part of the vegetation

IntroductionDigo community is the most populous group

in Msambweni district of Coast Province and is mainly concentrated in Diani location

Malaria is endemic in Msambweni district and prevalent in many other communities in Kenya

The Digo community has abundant traditional knowledge on malaria recognition, control and treatment

Introd.(Cont.)This study documents ethnophytotherapeutic

remedies, ethnodiagnostic skills and related traditional knowledge utilized by the Digo community of the Kenyan Coast to diagnose malaria as a lead to traditional bioprospecting.

MethodsStudy site

Methods(Cont.)This study was carried out in three Digo

villages of Diani sub-location between May 2009 and December 2009

Data was obtained through the use of semi-structured questionnaires, field observations and Participatory Rural Appraisal tools

Methods (Cont.)A total of 60 Digo respondents (34 men and

26 women) provided information on ethnophytotherapeutic remedies, ethnodiagnostic skills and related traditional knowledge utilized by the Digo community of the Kenyan Coast to diagnose malaria as a lead to traditional bioprospecting.

ResultsThe results show that the Digo community

relies not only on symptoms of malaria but also on factors responsible for causing malaria, attributes favoring the breeding of mosquitoes and practices employed to guard against mosquito bites or to protect households against malaria to diagnose the disease

Results(Cont.)• The Digo community uses 50 medicinal plants

to treat malaria that is positively diagnosed.• The most frequently mentioned symptoms

were fever, joint pains and vomiting while the most frequently mentioned practices employed to guard against mosquito bites and/or to protect households against malaria was burning of herbal plants such as Ocimum suave and ingestion of herbal decoctions and concoctions

Conclusions• Malaria is a major obstacle to social-economic

development amongst the Digo community.• The Digo community has abundant

ethnodiagnostic skills for malaria which forms the basis of their traditional bioprospecting techniques

• They also have abundant traditional knowledge about malaria causes and ethnophytotherapeutic remedies

Conclusions (Cont.)The results of this study become a basis for

selection of plants for further pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies in developing new and locally relevant antimalarial drugs.

Author conducting interview

Thickets near homesteads

Acknowledgements The Carnegie Corporation of New York for

financially supporting this work through Regional Initiative in Science and Technology (Carnegie-AIS-RISE) Natural Product Network

The community of Msambweni district, for sharing their knowledge and time with the author

The Natural Product Research Team for their positive criticism and constant encouragement

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING/AHSANTENI SANA

KAYA DIANI FOREST