1. ETHNODIAGNOSTIC SKILLS OF THE DIGO COMMUNITY FOR MALARIA: A LEAD TO TRADITIONAL BIOPROSPECTING? Joseph M Nguta, Natural Product programme, PHPT UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

2. General overview Azadirachta indica form part of the vegetation

3. Author conducting an interview in Mwaroni village, Diani

4. General overview Palm trees form part of the vegetation

5. Introduction Digo community is the most populous group in Msambweni district of Coast Province and is mainly concentrated in Diani location Malaria is endemic in Msambweni district and prevalent in many other communities in Kenya The Digo community has abundant traditional knowledge on malaria recognition, control and treatment

6. Introd.(Cont.) This study documents ethnophytotherapeutic remedies, ethnodiagnostic skills and related traditional knowledge utilized by the Digo community of the Kenyan Coast to diagnose malaria as a lead to traditional bioprospecting.

7. Methods Study site

8. Methods(Cont.) This study was carried out in three Digo villages of Diani sub-location between May 2009 and December 2009 Data was obtained through the use of semi-structured questionnaires, field observations and Participatory Rural Appraisal tools

9. Methods (Cont.) A total of 60 Digo respondents (34 men and 26 women) provided information on ethnophytotherapeutic remedies, ethnodiagnostic skills and related traditional knowledge utilized by the Digo community of the Kenyan Coast to diagnose malaria as a lead to traditional bioprospecting.

10. Results The results show that the Digo community relies not only on symptoms of malaria but also on factors responsible for causing malaria, attributes favoring the breeding of mosquitoes and practices employed to guard against mosquito bites or to protect households against malaria to diagnose the disease

11. Results(Cont.) The Digo community uses 50 medicinal plants to treat malaria that is positively diagnosed. The most frequently mentioned symptoms were fever, joint pains and vomiting while the most frequently mentioned practices employed to guard against mosquito bites and/or to protect households against malaria was burning of herbal plants such as Ocimum suave and ingestion of herbal decoctions and concoctions

12. Conclusions Malaria is a major obstacle to social-economic development amongst the Digo community. The Digo community has abundant ethnodiagnostic skills for malaria which forms the basis of their traditional bioprospecting techniques They also have abundant traditional knowledge about malaria causes and ethnophytotherapeutic remedies

13. Conclusions (Cont.) The results of this study become a basis for selection of plants for further pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies in developing new and locally relevant antimalarial drugs.

14. Author conducting interview

15. Thickets near homesteads

16. Acknowledgements  The Carnegie Corporation of New York for financially supporting this work through Regional Initiative in Science and Technology (Carnegie-AIS-RISE) Natural Product Network  The community of Msambweni district, for sharing their knowledge and time with the author  The Natural Product Research Team for their positive criticism and constant encouragement

17. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING/AHS ANTENI SANA

18. KAYA DIANI FOREST