• We have about 700 to 1,000 species that are used by our people for medicine.
• And if you walk around, you will find communities using at least one of these plants as medicine.
In Kenya we have around 7,000 plant species which are native to our region. One out of every 10 of these plants is medicinal.
That means in total, we have about 700 to 1,000 species that are used by our people for medicine.
And if you walk around, you will find communities using at least one of these plants as medicine.
These plants are found in a diverse ecosystem, not in one place. So that means we must conserve our ecosystem to be able to conserve all these plants. But in our country, we are not conserving the ecosystem, and this is for short-term gains like burning charcoal and constructing buildings.
We are destroying the ecosystem where these plants are, and we are also losing old people who are reservoirs of knowledge. On the other hand, young people are not interested in traditional medicine and have pride that it’s witchcraft. That is a colonial mentality because the colonialists lumped the herbal practice together with witchcraft. We need this mentality to stop.
When we conserve a diverse ecosystem we are likely to conserve these plants. We need to talk about conservation at the ecosystem level, and at the species level.
This is what I mean, if you look at the muthiga plant (East African Greenheart or Warburgia ugandensis) it’s very well known as medicinal and is also used as a toothbrush. It has this bactericidal property and is very popular.
If you look at this species in dry areas and in cold areas you will see it varies morphologically (variation with a species). This variation determines chemical constituents. The chemical varies within the plant depending on if it is in a hot or cold area. These constituents are important within that plant.
Actually, most of the drugs used in conventional medicines are originally derived from plants.
They go through a long process of testing for dosage and efficacy and that takes a lot of money and time. But traditional medicines rely on traditional knowledge handed down generations and that incorporates those elements of efficacy and dosage.
If the knowledge is not adulterated by people interested in money-making ventures, it holds a key place in healthcare and it will continue to hold that position. I see the increasing importance of herbal medicines because more and more want to be natural.
Many conventional drugs have long-term side effects, some known and others not known.
Herbal medicine is also food. Many local vegetables are also termed as medicines.
Other than providing nutrients like vitamins, they have other good elements such as antioxidants which are key in preventing diseases and providing immunity to us.
Nutraceuticals are that class of compounds that are not actual nutrients per se but chemicals that are good for our bodies. For instance, the colours you see in fruits and vegetables have compounds good for our immune systems. For instance, the yellow in carrots and blue in blueberries are antioxidants.
Dr Patrick Maundu is an ethnobotanist interested in traditional uses of African biodiversity and especially in food and nutrition. He works for the National Museums of Kenya.