Ethnobotanical Study of Plants Used in the Management of HIV/AIDS-Related Diseases in Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia

Abstract

Faced with critical shortages of staff, long queues, and stigma at public health facilities in Livingstone, Zambia, persons who suffer from HIV/AIDS-related diseases use medicinal plants to manage skin infections, diarrhoea, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, cough, malaria, and oral infections. In all, 94 medicinal plant species were used to manage HIV/AIDS-related diseases. Most remedies are prepared from plants of various families such as Combretaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae. More than two-thirds of the plants (mostly leaves and roots) are utilized to treat two or more diseases related to HIV infection. Eighteen plants, namely,Achyranthes asperaL.,Lannea discolor(Sond.) Engl.,Hyphaene petersianaKlotzsch ex Mart.,Asparagus racemosusWilld.,Capparis tomentosaLam.,Cleome hirtaOliv.,Garcinia livingstoneiT. Anderson,Euclea divinorumHiern,Bridelia catharticaG. Bertol.,Acacia niloticaDelile,Piliostigma thonningii(Schumach.) Milne-Redh.,Dichrostachys cinerea(L.) Wight and Arn.,Abrus precatoriusL.,Hoslundia oppositaVahl.,Clerodendrum capitatum(Willd.) Schumach.,Ficus sycomorusL.,Ximenia americanaL., andZiziphus mucronataWilld., were used to treat four or more disease conditions. About 31% of the plants in this study were administered as monotherapies. Multiuse medicinal plants may contain broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. However, since widely used plants easily succumb to the threats of overharvesting, they need special protocols and guidelines for their genetic conservation. There is still need to confirm the antimicrobial efficacies, pharmacological parameters, cytotoxicity, and active chemical ingredients of the discovered plants.