Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Sierra Leone

Copyright © 2013 by Cyrus Macfoy, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The information, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Before following any suggestions contained in this book, you should consult your personal physician. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising as a consequence of your use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-0609-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-0610-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-0611-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013916234

iUniverse rev. date: 11/16/2016

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I. Introduction to Traditional Medicine

Part II. Plants Species Grouped under Medicinal Uses in Alphabetical Order

Part III. Plant Family (in Alphabetical Order), Species, Uses, and Method of Drug Preparation

Part IV. Chemical Analysis and Biological Activity of Selected Sierra Leonean Plants

Glossary

Common Names (English)

Bibliography

About the Author

FOREWORD

Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Sierra Leone is a well written, comprehensive book by an internationally respected Sierra Leonean–American scientist.

I first met author Dr Cyrus MacFoy in 1985 when he joined us at the USDA research center in Beltsville, Maryland as a visiting Professor from the University of Sierra Leone with a United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency fellowship award. Although he was attached to another department (I was leading the Economic Botany Laboratory), he visited me on many occasions for mutual exchanges of information relating to his and my shared interest in Medicinal Plants of the world in general and his in depth knowledge of Sierra Leone. In sharing my knowledge of medicinal plants with him, I was pleased to learn that he had assembled in a book, his three plus decades’ research experience on Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Sierra Leone.

It is a pleasure for me to write this foreword. Cyrus’ long overdue book will be an invaluable contribution to the literature It recounts the traditional practices of the peoples of Sierra Leone, and carefully describes the local folklore and traditional medicine. It catalogues more than 200 plant species and more than 100 illnesses and diseases, together with local names, English common names, beliefs, medicinal uses and preparation.. Furthermore it addresses conservation, and how to integrate traditional medicine into the health care system in Sierra Leone. It also addresses some aspects of the chemistry and biological testing of medicinal plants.

Written by a Sierra Leonean from fieldwork conducted throughout the whole of Sierra Leone, Cyrus’ book is so readable that non biologists will also find it enjoyable. It will be the most recent addition to the literature from Africa, covering a wide variety of issues, and welcome indeed. This book is indeed informative and timely, in an era when people the world over are turning to natural cures for their various ailments. Coincidentally the search for new drugs from natural sources is also gathering momentum once again. As it well should! Synthetic FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs here in the US kill more than 100,000 Americans, in hospitals, taken as prescribed. Far fewer humans, if any, are killed annually by herbs in North America, except in rare cases of abuse or misidentity. The phrase Newly Approved by the FDA is not a stamp of approval in my view, it is a warning. Do not take for ten years!. More than half of newly FDA-approved drugs are recalled completely or relabelled when they are proved NOT to be safe and efficacious. In other words, long surviving folk practices are safer than newly FDA-approved pharmaceuticals. At least that is my devout belief.

In Africa and other developing countries, large numbers of people employ medicinal plants and traditional medicine already. I often hear and use the figure, 80% of the world’s population, by choice or necessity, use traditional healers and medicine. Regrettably some folk practices are not standardized, and may prove unsafe, with little consideration for hygiene. As probably in all endeavors in possibly all countries, there are some profiteering charlatans. Cyrus urges some way to incorporate good traditional medicine into the western allopathic medical system. He emphasizes the urgent need for more research into safety and dosage, for example.

I highly recommend this book to all those who are interested in increasing their knowledge of African traditions in general and Sierra Leonean traditions and culture in particular, its medicinal plants (from a flora similar to those in other west African countries); and those with an interest in continuing the research with a view to developing new drugs from plants. It will prove useful to Sierra Leoneans and other Africans, as well as those interested in African culture and traditions. This American ethnobotanist, Jim Duke, will enjoy seeking out activities and indications shared by those species common to Sierra Leone and the USA, and the frequent chemical rationales for these similarities of activities and indications. And were I lucky enough to travel to Sierra Leone, I would certainly want a pocket-sized edition with me. Wherever I have traveled, I find it rewarding to relate the local common names with the scientific names. That’s when the dialog gets interesting to an ethnobotanist.

Congrats Cyrus, your book has been a long time in the making. Thank goodness it is soon coming to fruition… Jim Duke, Oct 10, 2013

James A. Duke, PhD, Ethnobotanist, Green Farmacy Garden, Fulton Md.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. James Duke for writing the foreword and for his encouragement and interest in this book. Many people have contributed to the outcome of this publication, all of whom I am sincerely grateful to. Thus this book should not be regarded as one man’s work but rather as a collection of knowledge of the peoples of Sierra Leone. We the scientists should simply regard ourselves as editors who have gathered the information from villagers and put it in readable form.

First and foremost, I would like to thank all the herbalists and villagers who have supplied useful information from their large store of unwritten knowledge; thanks to several of my former students at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, including Modupeh Cole, Albert Sama, Edith Cline, Ophilia Barber, Munda Lebbie, and Eric Sumana, for conducting some of the primary research in Sierra Leone. I would also like to thank Michelle Nurse, my former student at the University of Maryland, for acting as my research assistant while putting this material together; Professor N.H.A. Cole for useful discussions, the Smithsonian Institution and the USDA for using some of their graphics and the iUniverse Editorial services for editing this manuscript. The line drawing of Moringa oleifera was obtained from Ethnic Culinary Herbs: A Guide to Identification and Cultivation in Hawaii, by George W. Staples and Michael S. Kristiansen (University of Hawaii Press, 1999). Finally, I am indebted to my wife, Denise, and children, Namdi and Siatta, for their patience and understanding over the years.

INTRODUCTION

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), traditional medicine (TM) has a central role to play in the twenty-first century. Partnerships between traditional medicine, public health, and health research have great potential, particularly in areas of prevention and management for diseases like HIV-AIDS, TB, malaria, and others, as well as chronic diseases. In 2002, the World Health Organization launched its first ever comprehensive traditional medicine strategy. This strategy was designed to help countries develop their use of TM and complementary and alternate medicine (CAM).

The strategy is designed to assist countries to

• develop national policies on the evaluation and regulation of TM/CAM practices;

• create a stronger evidence base on the safety, efficacy and quality of the TM/CAM products and practices;

• ensure availability and affordability of TM/CAM including essential herbal medicines;

• promote therapeutically sound use of TM/CAM by providers and consumers; and

• document traditional medicines and remedies.

In many parts of the world, policy-makers, health professionals, and the public have been wrestling with questions about the safety, efficacy, quality, availability, preservation, and rational use of TM/CAM and the further development of this type of health care. It is therefore timely for WHO to define its own role in TM/CAM by developing a strategy on these issues. WHO’s Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005 states, Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine attract the full range of reactions—from being very enthusiastic to being skeptical. But use of traditional medicine (TM) remains widespread in developing countries, while use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasing rapidly in developed countries.

Africa’s traditional healers can therefore be most instrumental in preventing HIV and AIDS, for example. These traditional specialists treat most cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and experts believe that STDs are major co-factors in the spread of HIV. Secondly, in developing countries with poor infrastructure, these healers are located in nearly every rural village setting as well as in the busy urban areas. Therefore, they are a blessing to Africa’s cash-strapped health ministries, since they are already on the ground and can contribute to solving the continent’s diverse health problems.

However, despite their knowledge and popularity, traditional healers are usually given a raw deal by many Western medical experts. True collaboration between these two groups is now imperative. True collaboration, however, requires a measure of respect for indigenous medicine and African culture generally. It also requires the shedding of stereotypes of African traditional healers. Most important of all is the search for a common ground between Western biomedicine and traditional healers and building