Antimalarial herbal remedies of Bukavu and Uvira areas in DR Congo: An ethnobotanical survey

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The main objective of the present study was to collect and gather information on herbal remedies traditionally used for the treatment of malaria in Bukavu and Uvira, two towns of the South Kivu province in DRC.
Material and methods: Direct interview with field enquiries allowed collecting ethnobotanical data; for each plant, a specimen was harvested in the presence of the interviewed traditional healers (THs). The recorded information includes vernacular names and parts of plants, methods of preparation and administration of remedies, dosage and treatment duration. Plants were identified with the help of botanists in the herbaria of INERA/KIPOPO (DRC) and the Botanic Garden of Meise (Belgium), where voucher specimens have been deposited. The Relative Frequencies of Citations (RFC) have allowed to evaluate the local importance of each plant species.
Results: Interviewees cited 45 plant species belonging to 41 genera and 21 families used for the treatment of malaria. These plants participate in the preparation of 52 recipes including 25 multi-herbal recipes and 27 mono-herbal recipes. Apart of Cinchona officinalis L. (Rubiaceae), the plant with highest importance (RFC = 0.72), the study has highlighted that the most represented families are Compositae with 12 species (26 %), followed by Leguminosae with 7 species (16 %) and Rubiaceae with 4 species (9 %). For a majority of plants, herbal medicines are prepared from the leaves in the form of decoction and administered by oral route.
Conclusion: The populations of Bukavu and Uvira have identified plants that are used for the treatment of malaria. Several of the highly cited plants should be investigated in details for the isolation and identification of the active ingredients, a contribution to the discovery of new possibly effective antimalarials.