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African Journal of Traditional, Complimentary and Alternative Medicines,, Vol.4, No. 1, 2007, pg. 75-86 RESEARCH PAPER TRADITIONAL MEDICINES AMONG THE EMBU AND MBEERE PEOPLES OF KENYA *Kareru, P. G a., Kenji, G. M.b ,Gachanja, A. N.a, Keriko, J. M.a ,Mungai, G.c, a Department of Chemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Code Number: tc07009 Abstract Ethnobotanical information and traditional medicines were investigated and documented in Embu and Mbeere districts, Eastern Province of Kenya. Oral interviews were obtained from over 100 herbalists, both men and women aged between 40 and 80 years. All the herbalists interviewed were Christians and had little formal education. Non-Christian herbalists were purported to combine herbal medicines with witchcraft and were not interviewed. Of the 40 commonly used herbal plants 25 were used as multi-purpose medicinal plants (mpmp), while 15 were used to treat one disease type. There was a correlation between the outpatient morbidity data at the local District hospital, and the common incident diseases treated by the herbalists. Generally a decoction or infusion of the herb was recommended for the treatment of internal or external condition of the patients. Malaria and typhoid were treatable with a total of 15 and 12 plants respectively and were among the first two commonest diseases found in the study area. Terminalia brownii was found to be the most used medicinal plant either alone or in combination with other herbs. The second and third most utilized medicinal plants were Ovariodendron anisatum and Wurbugia ugadensis respectively. Key words: Herbalists; Herbal medicine; Terminalia, Decoction Introduction Herbal medicines have been used for many years dating back as far as 3000 BC (Ayensu, 1978; WWF, 1993). Despite enormous advances in conventional medicines, traditional medicines have been encouraged by the Word Health Organization (WHO, 1978), partly because some conventional drugs have failed to prove effective, have serious side effects, or cannot cure certain new illnesses such as AIDS. The World Bank has recently put a strong case for herbal healthcare (Mburu Mwangi, 2005),and recognized vital values of medicinal plants. These values are medicinal, ecological, income generation, cultural, social and religious roles. The World Bank report further pointed out that Kenya٫Ps ministry of Health budget for medicines in 2002 provided for only 30% of the population. This left 70% (21 million) of the population who could not access the conventional drugs. The latter population group was therefore left to rely on traditional medicines for their healthcare needs. In Africa, 90% of the population relies on traditional healers to meet their primary healthcare needs (Miller, 1990). In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that one Western trained physician treats about 40,000 while one traditional healer treats about 400 patients (Hogle, 1990). This implies that there are many traditional healers serving a large portion of the population. There is need, therefore, to not only carry out ethnobotanical research and healing methods, but also encourage propagation and conservation of herbal plants among the local people. In addition, there is a rapid disappearance of genuine traditional herbalists and decline in authentic knowledge in traditional treatment (Lindsay and Hepper, 1978). This is due to the Western influence and death of many aged healers from whom a great deal of information is derived. It is imperative therefore to document the indigenous knowledge regarding traditional medicines before it disappears. In Kenya comprehensive ethnobotanical information and healing methods among the local communities is not completed. However, indigenous information of medicinal plants is recorded by several authors: (Glover, 1966; Lindsay and Hepper, 1978; Kokwaro, 1993; Kaendi, 1997; and Musila, 2000), among others. Elsewhere, herbal medicines research has been recently reported: (Barakat, E., Abu-Irmailum. Fatma U. Afifi. 2003; Joana Camejo-Rodrigues et al., 2003; and Lucia Viegi et al., 2003). In this publication, ethnobotanical information and traditional medicines of the Mbere and Embu people of Eastern province, Kenya is reported. The local herbalists complement the conventional local doctors in the treatment of the common diseases in the study area (Table 1). Documentation of the practices of these herbalists in Embu and Mbeere districts of eastern Province, Kenya, is reported for the first time. It is important to note that indigenous knowledge is passed orally and therefore there is need for comprehensive documentation. These herbalists use herbs whose available plant biodiversity transverses from the rainforests of Mt Kenya slopes to the semi-arid Mbeere District, availing a wide biodiversity of plants. Materials and Method The main objective of this research was to document indigenous knowledge of the Mbeere and Embu peoples of the Eastern Province, Kenya. This involved documentation of the medicinal plants traditionally used in healthcare, the herbal drugs preparations, the diseases treated, and collection of plant specimens. Preliminary visits were done to identify and select the herbalists to who took part in this study. The Provincial Director, Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture, and Social Services provided a list of authentic herbalist groups. These groups were selected to cover most of the area under our study. The initial selection was based on the willingness of herbalists to give voluntary information and interaction with researchers during consultative meetings. These meetings were participatory in nature, with researchers as facilitators. The common agenda was to produce a pharmacopoeia of herbal drugs for use by the herbalists in the study area. Ethnobotanical data was collected during a 12-month period from 110 herbalists practicing in the study area. They were both men and women aged 40 to 80 years. All the herbalists interviewed were Christians. Non-Christian herbalists were said to combine herbal medicines with witchcraft and were therefore avoided. The indigenous knowledge was collected using Participatory Rapid Appraisal method (PRA). This involved driving around to the identified herbalists. An expert in PRA from the National Museums of Kenya participated in this research. Formal interviews through questionnaires were avoided as it was found to be intimidating to the herbalists, majority of whom were semi- illiterate. A record of responses from individual and groups of herbalists were documented immediately during consultative meetings. Plant materials were authenticated by comparison with herbarium specimens. Each plant specimen collected was given a herbarium specimen number and the voucher samples kept in the East African Herbarium, and in the Faculty of Science (Botany Department), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (J.K.U.A.T.). Results The results are provided in Tables 1, 2 [a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h] and Table 3. Discussion Herbal medicines played an important role in the provision of health care for the rural poor within the communities under our study. The advantages are clearly low cost of herbal drugs and an element of self - reliance and non-dependency on government health institutions, some of which were located far away from the communities. Traditional health practitioners or herbalists treat patients using the indigenous knowledge acquired over generations, down family lines. This information is usually stored in human pharmacopoeia and hence the need for documentation for posterity. It is also prudent to document the indigenous knowledge due to the rapid disappearance of herbalists with authentic knowledge majority of who are advanced in age. The herbalists were able to identify poisonous plants, by observing the foliage which domestic animals avoided while grazing. In addition, birds and bees avoided nectar from flowers of toxic plants, and through this “traditional taxonomy” plants with thorny leaves were regarded as “male”, that is, naturally poisonous. On the other hand, plants without thorny leaves were regarded as non-poisonous. The commonest diseases within the study area were malaria, respiratory disorder, intestinal worms, skin diseases, and pneumonia, rheumatism, diarrhea and eye infections. Their incidences increased in that order. This was confirmed by the Embu District hospital morbidity data covering a three-year period from year 2000 to 2002 (Table 1). These diseases were treatable by the herbalists using common medicinal plants found in the study area. The report shows malaria was the commonest and the most commonly addressed disease by both herbalists and by the doctors at the local hospital. There was a correlation between the number of plants used to treat the most common diseases and the prevalence of diseases found in the study area (Table 2a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h). Thus, the herbalists knew many herbal plants that were used in the treatment of the most prevalent ailments. Medicinal plants species documented in the study area were ranked by the number of times they were used to treat different diseases (Table 3). The ranking ranged from 1 to 6. Rank 1 represented multi-purpose herbs and rank 6 denoted those herbs used to treat one type of ailment without combination with other medicinal plants. Terminalia brownii was a multi-purpose medicinal plant and among the most used herbal plant for various conditions. It was used as a multi-purpose medicinal plant and was used either alone or in combination with other plants. The second and third most utilized medicinal plants were Ovariodendron anisatum and Warbugia ugadensis respectively. For this reason, these plants should be encouraged for propagation and conservation. In addition, proper methods of harvesting should be used as means of conservation of such multi-purpose medicinal plants. Conclusions The herbalists were active in the provision of primary and secondary healthcare in the study areas. Malaria was the commonest disease in Mbeere and Embu districts and could be treated with at least twenty-five medicinal plants, either singly or in combination with other medicinal plants. Respiratory ailments were treated with 21 herbs; Intestinal worms with 9 herbs; Pneumonia with 10 plants; Diarrhea with 23 plants; Rheumatism with 9 herbs and urinary tract infections with 11 herbs. The most used medicinal plants were Terminilia brownii and Ovariodendron anisatum, which treated six and five conditions respectively. Acknowledgements This work was supported by a grant from African institute for Capacity Development (AICAD), situated at JKUAT, and is greatly appreciated. The authours wish to appreciate the information given to them by the Provincial Health Officer at the Embu Hospital. We would also like to thank the Provincial Director, Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture, and Social Services for identification of authentic herbalists from whom information in this study was obtained. Finally, we thank Geoffrey Mungai of the National Museums of Kenya for helping in PRA work in this research. References
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