The use of indigenous medicine for the treatment of hypertension by a rural community in northern Maputaland, South Africa

Abstract

Worldwide, the occurrence of hypertension is the highest in the African WHO Region where 46% of adults above the age of 24years suffer from hypertension. This study was undertaken to document the plants used by lay persons in a rural community for the treatment of hypertension, and to determine to what extent they use these plants concurrently with prescribed drugs for hypertension. A total of one hundred lay people with knowledge on antihypertension plants were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Information regarding vernacular plant names, plant parts used, preparation, and dosages was collected, as well as some health information with reference to hypertension. It was found that a total of 28 plant species were used singularly or in 17 different plant combinations in decoctions to treat hypertension. Twenty plant species have never been documented before for the treatment of hypertension. The species most used were: Momordica balsamina (by 44 interviewees), Aloe marlothii (32), Hypoxis hemerocallidea (17), Musa acuminata (10), Strychnos madagascariensis (10), and Senecio serratuloides (9). Thirty-one of the 50 people who had been diagnosed with hypertension were supplementing their prescribed hypertension drugs with medicinal plants. None of them had revealed to their healthcare practitioners that they were also using herbal medicines. Although none of the interviewees were aware of the possible consequences of drug interactions, they were mindful of some side effects caused by the medicinal plants they used for the treatment of hypertension. According to the majority of the interviewees, hypertension is caused by unhappiness and stress. Information from the community was cited as their main source of which plants to use to treat hypertension. It is clear from this survey that medicinal plant remedies play a vital role in the treatment of not just communicable diseases but also in the treatment of chronic ailments like hypertension by the lay persons in this deep rural area. The findings suggested that there is no awareness of the risks that may accompany the simultaneous use of conventional medication and medicinal plants. There is a definitive need to educate health practitioners and patients of the risks they are taking in using both prescribed hypertension drugs and medicinal plants.