Background: Pastoral communities of the Afar people in northeastern Ethiopia use medicinal plants for various health problems. However, very limited scientific documents are found addressing ethnomedicinal knowledge of the community.
Objective: This study aimed at documenting herbal medicine and the associated knowledge from Koneba district of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia.
Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to select study sites and key informants. General informants were selected through simple random sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews and guided field walk were used to collect data while Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Fidelity Level (FL) and Preference Ranking were used to analyze and verify data.
Results: A total of 67 medicinal plant species used to treat humans and livestock ailments were recorded and collected. Thirteen medicinal plant species were mentioned as effective medicine against snake bite (ICF; 0.68) while nine species used to treat malaria, common cold and fever (ICF: 0.67). (Steud. ex A.Rich.) Desc. ex Wild & R.B.Drumm. was the most preferred species used to combat snakebite, which was prevalent in the area.
Conclusion: Snake bite, malaria, common cold and fever are common health problems in the study area. Efficient use of herbal medicine has minimized the impact of these diseases.
BT - African health sciences C1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34394323 DA - 03/2021 DO - 10.4314/ahs.v21i1.51 IS - 1 J2 - Afr Health Sci LA - eng N2 -Background: Pastoral communities of the Afar people in northeastern Ethiopia use medicinal plants for various health problems. However, very limited scientific documents are found addressing ethnomedicinal knowledge of the community.
Objective: This study aimed at documenting herbal medicine and the associated knowledge from Koneba district of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia.
Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to select study sites and key informants. General informants were selected through simple random sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews and guided field walk were used to collect data while Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Fidelity Level (FL) and Preference Ranking were used to analyze and verify data.
Results: A total of 67 medicinal plant species used to treat humans and livestock ailments were recorded and collected. Thirteen medicinal plant species were mentioned as effective medicine against snake bite (ICF; 0.68) while nine species used to treat malaria, common cold and fever (ICF: 0.67). (Steud. ex A.Rich.) Desc. ex Wild & R.B.Drumm. was the most preferred species used to combat snakebite, which was prevalent in the area.
Conclusion: Snake bite, malaria, common cold and fever are common health problems in the study area. Efficient use of herbal medicine has minimized the impact of these diseases.
PY - 2021 SP - 410 EP - 417 T2 - African health sciences TI - Herbal medicine used by the community of Koneba district in Afar Regional State, Northeastern Ethiopia. UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8356579/pdf/AFHS2101-0410.pdf VL - 21 SN - 1729-0503 ER -