A survey of the applications and use of ethnomedicinal plants and plant products for healthcare from the Ukambani region in Eastern Kenya

Abstract

The Akamba people of Kenya have a long history of ethnobotany, dating back to the pre-colonial era. Building on the Akamba’s historical businesses involving the trade of various plants and plant products called ‘Miti,’ literally meaning plants, the Miti are used in primary healthcare systems. Overall, the Miti lack proper documentation. Thus, the primary purpose of this paper is to record and classify the plants used by the Akamba. Non-alienating, dialogic, participatory action research (PAR) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approaches wereused to survery 25 women and men between the ages of 50 and 86 years old. Results indicated 200 useful medicinal plant species from 58 families, while their application methods for a wide range of ill-health conditions affecting humans, cattle and poultry were also documented. The recorded medicial conditions ranged from those that manifest clinically to those that are cultural, spiritual and psychological in nature. Management of many chronic and complicated ill-health conditions showed that the Kamba ethnomedical system may practically be comparable to that of conventional medicine, particularly following an in-depth scientific studies. . Key words: Ethnobotanical knowledge, Akamba people, Ethnonomedicines, Plant products, Eastern Kenya, Ukambani region.