Traditional medicinal plants used to treat cancer, tumors and inflammatory ailments in Harari Region, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Global health reports indicated that cancer and inflammatory ailments are increasing and the highest cause of mortality. These health problems are alarmingly increasing and becoming the national health concern of Ethiopia. It is well recognized that the use of medicinal plants in the treatments of diseases, including cancer and inflammation, are common in traditional medicine. Therefore, this study explored age-old traditional practices of using medicinal plants used to treat cancer locally called gofla, tumor local called keledo, and inflammatory ailments by Harari and Oromo communities. Semi-structured interviews, discussions and guided field walks constituted the data collection methods from 72 (52 male and 20 female) systematically selected informants including 12 traditional herbalists (key informants). Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), Fidelity Level (FL), Relative Importance Index (RI), Cultural Importance Index (CII), and binomial test were employed in data analysis. Thirty-nine traditional medicinal plant species in 38 genera and 29 families were used for cancer, tumor, and body inflammations treatments. Remedial preparations added to 50 formulations for the treatment of 17 different ailments listed under the three major categories. Preparation of paste from fresh parts accounts for 20% followed by concoctions of respective parts for internal application (18%) and crushed fresh parts for topical application (16%). There was no significant difference in ICF values of the three categories (p > .05), i.e. tumor (0.91), inflammations (0.89), and cancer (0.88). RFC values ranged from 0.79 to 0.06 and FL from 46.67 to 66.67%. The highest RFC was recorded for Cyphostemma adenocaule (0.79), followed by Hydnora abyssinica (0.75), Zanthoxylum usambarense (0.73), and Plumbago zeylanica (0.68). The study area harbored valuable traditional medicinal plant species used for the treatment of cancers, tumors, and inflammations and reputable indigenous knowledge, which attracted the phytochemical and pharmacological analyses as well as the conservation of species and associated ethnomedicinal knowledge.