Ethnopharmacological Survey on Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Healers in Central and Kara Regions of Togo for Antitumor and Chronic Wound Healing Effects

Abstract EN

Cancer is an emerging public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa.

Several medicinal plants are used by traditional healers to treat tumors.

In Togo, there are no recorded data for these plants but traditional healers claim to cure tumors with some success.

So, information on medicinal plants used to cure human tumors and cancer could be of great importance for their widespread use and scientific validation.

The present ethnopharmacological survey aims to record information on antitumor plants in central and Kara regions of Togo.

Semistructured validated questionnaires were administered to fifty-seven traditional healers specialized in tumor management in 7 prefectures of Togo.

Good practices and know-how were recorded.

Quantitative ethnobotanical tools were used to analyze and summarize the data collected.

85 recipes of medicinal plants for tumors management are provided.

In the local dialect, 78.95% of traditional healers do not have a clear tumor designation and 29.90% find that the causes of tumors remain unknown.

According to 48.78% of traditional healers, the diagnosis of tumors in patients is made in the hospital.

The types of tumors frequently treated are those of the breast (43.75%) and the lung (16.67%).

The seventy listed medicinal plants belong to thirty-nine families, the most represented being Rubiaceae (17.95%), Caesalpiniaceae (12.82%), Fabaceae (10.26%), and Annonaceae (7.69%).

The ten most cited species were Xylopia aethiopica, Aframomum melegueta, Khaya senegalensis, Parkia biglobosa, Piliostigma thonningii, Blighia sapida, Vitellaria paradoxa, Adansonia digitata, Annona muricata, and Parinari curatellifolia.

Most of the recipes are prepared as decoction (40%) and administered orally (54.12%).

Both regions of our study have a wealth of medicinal plants, and traditional healers would use their local knowledge in the management of various tumors and chronic wounds.