Abstract
Since many rural-poor Lozi people of Sesheke District (Western Province, Zambia) that suffer from sexually transmitted infections do not usually access public health facilities; they turn to traditional healers who administer remedies extracted from medicinal plants. However, the medicinal plants used for sexually transmitted infections and data on the usage of plants in Sesheke District in particular and Western Province in general have not been documented. In this study, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants that alleviate symptoms of sexually transmitted infections in Sesheke District, Western Province, Zambia. Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, ethnobotanical data were collected from twenty traditional healers that manage patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections. The results showed that 52 plant species in 25 families and 43 genera were used to treat gonorrhoea, syphilis, chancroid, chlamydia, genital herpes, and ano-genital warts. Sexually transmitted infections were frequently managed using the following plants: Terminalia sericea, Strychnos cocculoides, Ximenia caffra, Cassia abbreviata, Cassia occidentalis, Combretum hereroense, Combretum imberbe, Dichrostachys cinerea, Boscia albitrunca, Momordica balsamina and Pel-tophorum africanum. Many of these plants have putative antimicrobial activities which may justify their roles as natural remedies for sexually transmitted infections. Further studies are needed to determine the dosages, minimum inhibitory concentrations, biological activities and toxicities, and characterise the plants’ chemical compounds.
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Acknowledgements
We thank institutions that funded the study through research grants to the author: University of Namibia Research and Publications Committee, Joint Namibia-South Africa research collaboration programme, and the African Union/NEPAD Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio) through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa. All research assistants are thanked for their help during data collection. The author is highly indebted to all traditional healers without whom this research would not have been possible. Prof. Kazhila C. Chinsembu is the Chairperson of the Steering Committee on Scientific Validation of Traditional Medicines for the Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Namibia.
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Chinsembu, K.C. Ethnobotanical study of medicinal flora utilised by traditional healers in the management of sexually transmitted infections in Sesheke District, Western Province, Zambia. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia 26, 268–274 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.07.030
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.07.030