Abstract
Confirmation of identity, along with determination of the quality and purity of herbal drug is an important step towards ensuring its safety and efficacy. This study therefore sought to document the botanical constituents and drug indications of traditional oral liquid herbal formulations (TOLHFs) manufactured in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. It also examined the conservation status of the medicinal plants so used alongside the cultivation efforts being made by the drug manufacturers in order to provide information on whether continual exploitation of the plants for TOLHFs is sustainable. Through a questionnaire, 14 traditional herbal medical practitioners (THMPs)provided information on the recipes of their products, the sources of their raw material herbs, and types of health conditions treated or managed with the drugs. Sustainability potential of the drugs was quantified as relative percentage of the three choices of sources of raw material herbs available to the manufacturers in conjunction with the conservation status of the plant species as recorded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Fifty-seven medicinal plant species (in 34 angiosperm families) were used to formulate 71 herbal recipes that are indicated for treating 14 different health conditions.
Highlights
The traditional herbal medical practitioners (THMPs) in Ogbomoso, Nigeria produce and market various herbal preparations used for different types of ill health conditions
Results a) Socio-demographic characteristics and professional activities of the traditional herbal medical practitioners As recorded in Table1, thirteen (i.e. 76.5%) of the 17 THMPs initially recruited to participate in the study were men and 4 (i.e.23.4%) were women; 10 of them were over 50 years of age
The THMPs ventured into updating their knowledge of medical practice through a wide range of choices, such as by intuition (35.3%), attendance at health talks or meetings (11.8%) and electronic media, while 47% of them adopted various forms of a combination of these and other choices (Table 1).Fourteen of the initially recruited 17 THMPs were involved in the production, sale and application of traditional oral liquid herbal formulations (TOLHFs) against 14 different types of health conditions including maintenance of general body homeostasis and the management of some dreaded diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, typhoid and yellow fever
Summary
The traditional herbal medical practitioners (THMPs) in Ogbomoso, Nigeria produce and market various herbal preparations used for different types of ill health conditions. Quality of herbal medicines is defined by World Health Organisation (2002) on the basis of their reproducible efficacy and safety, while Bauer (1998) identifies quality criteria in terms of the scientific definition of the raw materials. Based on these definitions, standardisation and quality control of herbal formulations can be said to recline on their identity and purity. Considering the raw medicinal herbs for TOLHFs in Ogbomoso as ‘active ingredients’ for these drugs (World Health Organization, 2000), their enumeration formed the main purpose of this study
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