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Herbal remedies and their adverse effects in Tem tribe traditional medicine in Togo
- Source :
- African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines; Vol 8, No 1 (2011)
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- In Africa, up to 80% of the population relies on herbal concoctions for their primarily health care. In Togo, western Africa, Tem tribe is a population with old knowledge of medicinal plants, however, still very little is known about their medical practices. The present study was conducted to access for the apprehension of adverse effects of traditional remedies by Tem traditional healers (TH). Enquiry was performed by interviews with healers from August to October 2007 in Tchaoudjo prefecture (Togo). The study allowed us to interview 54 TH including 41(75.93%) males and 13(24.07%) females, who cited 102 recipes assumed to have adverse effects. The recipes were used alone to cure several diseases including haemorrhoids (22.55%), female sexual disorders and infertility (21.57%), gastrointestinal disorders (18.63%), and malaria (6.86%). A total of 34 plants belonging to 21 families were cited to be components of the recipes. Euphorbiaceae and Mimosaceae families were the most represented, however, Nauclea latifolia, Khaya senegalensis, Pseudocedrela kotschyi and Xeroderris stuhlmannii were the main components of recipes linked to adverse effects. A total of 20 adverse effects were linked to the administration of theses drugs, and among them; diarrhoea, abdominal pains, polyuria, general weakness and vomiting were the most frequently encountered. These findings were in accordance with several reports of the literature concerning medicinal plants, although they were based on empirical observations. Laboratory screenings are needed to access for the effectiveness as well as the possible toxic effects of the recipes. Keywords: traditional concoctions, medicinal plants, adverse effects, Togo.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Nauclea
Population
Alternative medicine
Ethnobotany
Population Groups
Drug Discovery
Health care
medicine
Tribe
Humans
Medicinal plants
Adverse effect
education
Medicine, African Traditional
education.field_of_study
Plants, Medicinal
Traditional medicine
biology
business.industry
medicine.disease
biology.organism_classification
Research Papers
Complementary and alternative medicine
Togo
Africa
Female
traditional concoctions, medicinal plants, adverse effects, Togo
business
Malaria
Phytotherapy
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 25050044 and 01896016
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- African journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6102f9d5ffb36f6705d7d615903ae978