Herbal medicine used by the community of koneba district in afar regional state, northeastern ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Pastoral communities of the Afar people in northeastern Ethiopia use medicinal plants for various health problems. However, very limited scientific documents are found addressing ethnomedicinal knowledge of the community. Objective: This study aimed at documenting herbal medicine and the associated knowledge from Koneba district of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to select study sites and key informants. General informants were selected through simple random sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews and guided field walk were used to collect data while Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Fidelity Level (FL) and Preference Ranking were used to analyze and verify data. Results: A total of 67 medicinal plant species used to treat humans and livestock ailments were recorded and collected. Thirteen medicinal plant species were mentioned as effective medicine against snake bite (ICF; 0.68) while nine species used to treat malaria, common cold and fever (ICF: 0.67). Cyphostemma adenocaule (Steud. ex A.Rich.) Desc. ex Wild & R.B.Drumm. was the most preferred species used to combat snakebite, which was prevalent in the area. Conclusion: Snake bite, malaria, common cold and fever are common health problems in the study area. Efficient use of herbal medicine has minimized the impact of these diseases.