A systematic review of antimalarial medicinal plants in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

In Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria is one of the country's major public health issues and responsible for the death of tens of thousands of people every year in both rural and urban environments. Antimalarial drugs are commonly used but some recorded cases of drug resistance are a major obstacle to controlling the spread of malaria. It is therefore essential to identify new bioactive molecules as an alternative. Many medicinal plants with different properties have been used as treatments for a variety of diseases in the DRC, including malaria. This study provides a systematic review of antimalarial plant resources in the DRC. From 28 papers on ethnomedicine published between 2001 and 2019, a total of 232 plant species belonging to 67 different plant families and identified in 13 provinces was reported in the treatment of malaria. A large number of these plant species belong to the Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Apocyanaceae families. Species cited in more than three provinces include Cymbopogon citratus, Vernonia amygdalina, Rauvolfia vomitoria and Catharanthus roseus. Most of the species identified as antimalarial plants were tree species, with phanerophytes predominating. In addition, leaves were identified as the main ingredients for preparing remedies, most commonly by decoction administered orally.
 

‘A disease like any other’ traditional, complementary and alternative medicine use and perspectives in the context of COVID-19 among the Congolese community in Belgium

“…Furthermore, a review of the ethnobotanical literature confirms the use against malaria in Sub-Sahara Africa of all other plants cited by our respondents, except for chives (Allium schoenoprasum L.) [31,[60][61][62][63][64][65]. The use of 'confo' , a mix of essential oils sold online as mosquito repellent and respiratory tract therapeutics was used to cure COVID-19, can be derived from the eucalyptus-like odour of the essential oil mixture, as eucalyptus was used by participants against (symptoms of ) COVID-19.…”

“…In this light, participants in our study actively sought links between COVID-19 and their own cultural and traditional knowledge in search for strategies to deal with all aspects of COVID-19. All but one (Allium schoenoprasum) plants used against COVID-19 mentioned by participants were plants that are known and used medicinally in DR Congo [23,[31][32][33][34]44]. The two non-plant TCAM, 'confo ® ' and 'Vicks ® ' , were not (yet) documented as being used in the DR Congo.…”

Biodiversity and Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants of the Small Songo City, Angola

“…The other plant organs used in traditional medicine are, root bark (3.6%), fruit (2.9%), rhizome (1.1%), bulb (1.0%), silks (0.6%), nut (0.2%), and tuber (0.2%). The preponderance of the leaf as the most used organ in traditional therapeutic prescriptions has been reported by several authors, such as Pathy, et al [38], Rusaati, et al [53] in DRC, Gumisiriza, et al [55] in Uganda, and Lautenschläger, et al [19] in Angola. The preference for the use of leaves is justified by the fact that they are easy to collect, store, and process during most of the year, but also because they are the main organs that synthesize and store secondary metabolites [56,57].…”

“…The species of Fabaceae/Leguminosae are commonly used as medicinal plants for treating fever, malaria, diarrhea, stomach pain, and worms [19,40,42,53].…”

“…Finally, another important medicinal plant family is Asteraceae, which is widely used in traditional medicine in many African countries such as Angola and DRC. In DRC and Angola, species of Asteraceae such as Ageratum conyzoides, Bidens pilosa, Chromolaena odorata, Emilia coccinea, Tithonia diversifolia, Vernonia amygdalina are commonly used in the treatment of malaria, hookworm, bronchitis, female infertility, cough, hemorrhoids, wounds, repeated abortion [19,21,38,41,53].…”