USE OF Jateorhiza palmata ROOTS TO ENHANCE PUBLIC HEALTH IN SELECTED POPULATIONS IN MALAWI
SABINA MANDA
Department of Forestry, Mzuzu University, Private Bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu, Malawi.
EDWARD MISSANJO *
Department of Research, Malawi Assemblies God of University, P.O. Box 184, Lilongwe, Malawi.
DALO NJERA
Department of Forestry, Mzuzu University, Private Bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu, Malawi.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Medicinal plants play a great role in treating various diseases especially in low-income countries in Africa such as Malawi where modern medicine is highly expensive. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the social medical use of J. palmata in four populations/districts (Machinga, Mulanje, Neno and Nsanje) of Malawi. The results revealed that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences on the social medicinal use of J. palmata roots among the populations. The respondents indicated that 41 ailments are cured by J. palmata roots and are categorized into five. Namely: gastrointestinal, reproductive health, respiratory, pediatric, and general ailments. The most used method of preparing J. palmata medicine is concoction and is administered through oral. The study suggest laboratory analysis of the J. palmata roots which may lead to development of drugs which can be used to cure several diseases and of cost effective.
Keywords: Ailments, Jateorhiza palmata, medicinal plants, gastrointestinal, reproductive health, respiratory, pediatric