Herbal remedies of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya: Establishing quantitative criteria for consensus

Abstract

Data based on independent interviews with45 herbalists of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya, comprised 1129 remedy reports and related to 330 species ofplants. While 49% of the remedies were encountered only once we list here 66 remedies (49 taxa) that were confirmed through independent reports from three or more individuals. A log-linear model was applied to these data in order to establish criteria for evaluating the likely efficacy ofspecific remedies. A quantitative interaction effect was calculated for each remedy as a measure of its degree of confirmation. The validity ofthe values derived from the mathematical model is considered in relation to classical criteria for evaluating ethnomedicinal reports. Les plantes medicinales Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya: identification des criteres d'evaluation quantitative pour fins de consensus. Les resultats d'enquetes individuelles avec 45 herboristes Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya ont permis de repertorier 330 especes de plantes medicinales utilisees dans quelques 1129 traitements herboristes. Puisque 49% de ces plantes medicinales n'avaient ete mentionnees qu'une seule fois, nous avons bdti une liste de 66 plantes medicinales (49 taxa) dont chacune a ete rapporteepar plus de trois herboristes. Les resultats obtenus ont ereincorpores dans un modele logarithmique lineaire afin d'identifier des criteres d'evaluation de l'efficacite de ces plantes medicinales. Pour chacune des plantes medicinales "l'effet de l'interaction quantitative" a ete utilise comme mesure de son degre de confirmation. La validite des resultats obtenus apartir de ce modele mathematique a ete comparee aux criteres classiques d'evaluation des rapports ethnomedicinaux.Although Western scientific medicine is accessible to the Luo of Nyanza Province, Kenya, many people continue to depend, at least in part, on herbal remedies. Siaya District is a rural area where practitioners of herbal medicine remain active and where opportunities exist to record and evaluate this aspect of the traditional health care of the Luo.In undertaking an ethnomedicinal survey ofthis district we encountered several methodological problems inherent in ethnobotanical work. These focus around the question of the criteria on which to assess the importance of reports from individuals in the collective pharmacopeia of the region. Inconsistency in the information received from informants is compounded by the uneven spatial distribution of plant resources and by the prevalence of certain disease conditions compared to others. Concurrently, if one wants to identify plants that might be I

Plants with topical uses in the Ripollès district (Pyrenees, Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula): Ethnobotanical survey and pharmacological validation in the literature

“…On the one hand, 25 out of 30 uses have been quoted by three or more informants, representing 83.33% of all reported uses. This means that a great part of folk plant remedies in the studied area meets the reliability criterion of Le Grand and Wondergem (1987) and Johns et al (1990). On the other hand, the informant consensus factor (F IC ) is very high (0.93 of a maximum of 1, as defined by Trotter and Logan, 1986), indicating a high degree of agreement in the treatment of topical conditions in the area of study.…”

Wild and semi-domesticated food plant consumption in seven circum-Mediterranean areas

“…The data of this study confirm that people tend to use preferably the plants that are easily available to them, excluding of course those that are toxic or noxious. As Bonet and Vallès (2002), Bonet et al (1999), Johns et al (1990) and Stepp and Moerman (2001) affirm, the more common a plant (family or species) is in an area, the greater is the probability of its popular use. Most of the times the wild food plants gathering at a local level depends mainly on the plant diversity of an area.…”

Medicinal plants in Mexico: healers' consensus and cultural importance

“…This comparative method allows not only the selection of indigenous medicinal plants for phytochemical and biological/pharmacological studies, but is also useful in determining the cultural importance of a particular plant as opposed to others in the same usage category. There have been several other approaches to establish quantitative criteria for the relative importance of plants (Friedman et al, 1986;Johns et al, 1990;Phillips, 1996;Berlin and Berlin, 1996). The one of Berlin and Berlin is of particular relevance to the discussion here.…”