MEDICINAL PLANTS USED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MALARIA AMONG THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE PRACTITIONERS (TMP’S) IN SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA

This study examined the type of medicinal plants used in the management of malaria in the Yoruba folklore in south western Nigeria. 87 Traditional medicine practitioners (TMP’s) were interviewed. Plants available in the regions were considered in the survey and recorded with their local names, parts used, preparation and the modes of use. A total of 21 plant species used by TMP`s in the management of malaria infections were identified. These species belong to 18 plant families.


Introduction
Malaria is a major disease problem in tropical regions of the world, and is a vectorborne infectious disease that is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions.An estimated annual death of 1-3million from malaria only was made by WHO (1996) and Greenwood et al. (2005) with children being the most vulnerable in sub-Saharan Africa, while it infects between 300-500 million people yearly.Concerted effort had been made in combating the malarial parasite, and the disease vector.
Decades ago many antimalarial drugs were developed from plant based materials, for example an alkaloid (quinine) from the bark of Cinchona Spp, (Rubiaceae) and artemisinin from Artemisia annua, (Asteraceae).Despite some breakthroughs in the synthesis of antimalarial drugs, the parasite has developed resistance to most of the synthetic drugs, hence large population of people in the tropics still rely on plant based therapy.In the tropical regions of Asia, South America and Africa where the disease is prevalent people still use Cinchona bark and other plants respectively.About 80% of the populations of many developing countries still use traditional medicines for their health care (Khan and Nkunya., 1991;Tuley De Silva, 1999).Over 90% of Nigerians in rural areas and about 40% of the population living in urban areas depend partly or wholly on traditional medicines (Osemeobo, 1993).Due to economic reasons, most of the people in developing countries are precluded from the luxury of access to modern therapy (Elmi, 1991).This has made the people to rely on plant and animal resources for their health care over centuries.A study in Ibadan (Nigeria), has shown that urban centres are areas where traditional medicine is widely practiced, (Cunningham, 1997).Odebiyi (1990) also opined that 2/3 of the healthcare practitioners in Nigeria are traditional healers, while Cunningham (1993) reported that in Benin City (Nigeria), the ratio of TMP to the population is 1:110 while that of western medical doctor is 1:16400.
Many trees and shrubs in Nigeria have medicinal values (Young, 1989).The survey and proper documentation of various plants used by TMP's in combating the infant killer disease (malaria) is pre-requisite to the preservation of indigenous knowledge of our rich plant resources.It is the aim of this paper to provide invaluable information on these plants for further scientific research in drug development from plant resources.

Population and study area
The people of South Western Nigeria are mainly of Yoruba ethnic group and distributed over six States namely: Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, and Lagos States.The study area lies between latitude 5 0 30'N -8 0 05'N and longitude 2 0 45'E -6 0 00'E (Filani and Olabode, 1993).The natural vegetation is composed of coastal and swampy forest, high forest, rainforest and derived savannah towards the north.Four out of the six States were considered for the study with an average population of 2.5m/ State (1991 census).The major occupation of the people is agro based and mostly lived in rural area except in Lagos State where urbanization has reduced the farming population.

Data Collection
A total of 87 traditional medicine practitioners (TMP's) were interviewed in 22 locations distributed over the selected 4 States.Seventy eight (78) respondents were male practitioners while nine (9) respondents were female practitioners representing 90% and 10% respectively.

Results and Discussion
A total of 21 plant species used by TMP's in the management of malarial infections were identified.These species belong to 18 plant families.The plants were collected during the survey in the four (4) States of south western Nigeria and identified taxonomically.All the plants listed in the survey were available in all the forest regions of the 4 States.Results from the survey showed that out of the 21 plant species cited, 52.4% were trees, 33.3% shrubs and 14.3% climbers; this is an indication that trees are often used than shrubs and climbers/creepers.Also 47.6% of the plants cited as antimalarial species were sourced from the wild, 14.3% from cultivated sources (farms and TMP`s premises), while 38.1% are either from cultivated sources or from the wild.This showed that TMP`s mostly sourced their plant materials from the wild (47.6%) while few are cultivated (14.3%) in the region surveyed.Also leaves were mostly used 44.5%, followed by stem bark 25.9%, seed/fruits/flowers 14.8%, roots 11.1% and plants used wholly represent only 3.7%.Some of the plants have been reported to contain compounds with antimalarial activities while some are yet to be investigated biologically.Kansik. et al. (2002) have reported the components of the alcoholic extracts of leaves and seeds of Azadirachta indica to be effective against both chloroquine-resistant and chloroquine sensitive strains of the malarial parasite.Nimbolide, azadirachtin and gedunin isolated from A. indica inhibited the growth of the malarial parasite (Rochanakij et al., 1985;Khalid et al., 1989;Govindachari, 1992;Kraus , 1995).In Ghana and Nigeria, Alstonia boonei, Rauvolfia vomitoria, Morinda lucida and Xylopia aethiopica have been reported to be widely used in treating malaria, (Agbovie. et al., 2002;Aiyeloja and Bello, 2006).Momordica charantia leaf was listed by Leslie (2005) as antimalarial component of Brazilian, Peruvian, Nicaragua and Panama herbal medicine.According to Awadh et al. (2004) studies have shown and confirmed extensive use of combination of these plants as antimalarial agents.But most of the antimalarial tests in the laboratory have not conclusively authenticated their antimalarial properties.It is, therefore, suggested that investigation on these antimalarial plant combinations should be carried out rather than investigating the plants individually as antimalarial agents, and antimalarial activities of the recipes should be investigated and developed.. Lawsonia inermis ranked high among the antimalarial plants in Yemeni herbal medicine (Awadh et al., 2004).M. charantia leaf contains momordin, alpha and beta-momorcharin, cucurbitacin B and charantins.Anthraquinones from Morinda lucida (Awe and Makinde, 1998)and active agents from Garcinia cola are all worth investigating biologically on malaria parasites using appropriate models.*The families and voucher numbers obtained at the Forest Herbarium,Ibadan, (FHI) for the plant specimens are put in parenthesis.

Table 2 :
Plants used in the management of malarial in south western Nigeria