Governance of the Practice of Traditional Medicine in Selected Markets of Western Kenya.

Abstract

Traditional medicine (TM) is a conglomeration of natural products that are used in the treatment of diseases and sociocultural syndromes. Folk medicine employs a wider array of natural products that primarily include medicinal plants and in some instances the use of minerals or animal products. The practice of TM is gaining immense popularity among rural, urban and peri-urban populations, this is highly associated with the increasing challenge in the treatment of modern lifestyle diseases using allopathic or biomedical drugs. TM therefore provides a justifiable alternative medical system where uses find a lasting remedy or a complement therapy. The study attempted to evaluate the current governance practices of the TM industry, trade and uses, and finally assessed the sociocultural aspects that promote the conservation and preservation of medicinal plant resources. The survey used a purposive sampling technique incorporating snowball methods where knowledgeable and willing respondents were selected for oral interviews and allowed to recruit other competent respondents into the survey. Face to face oral interviews were conducted using a pre-tested and a liberal questionnaire after procuring prior informed consents. Herbarium techniques and standard Flora of Kenya literature sources were used to process and identify frequently sold medicinal plants in the informal markets of Western Kenya. The collected data was organized and presented in MS excel spreadsheets and subjected to descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, percentages). Concise literature and desktop reviews was conducted to address the recent sociocultural conservation strategies of TM. The data was presented on tables, column or bar graphs and pie charts. Frequency of Citation (FC) and Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) ethnobotanical indices were key in the identification of useful and frequently traded medicinal plant species. Women practitioners’ dominated the medicine markets whereas men dominated the TM leadership circles. Majority of the TM market practitioners (TMPs) were older with a mean age of 64 years and a mean practicing age of 24 years.

Slightly more than half of the TM traders (54%) were willing to be interviewed and only fifteen per cent (15%) of the practitioners had acquired a certificate of registration or recognition. From the market survey, 90 plant species belonging to 79 genera and 46 plant families were identified, with T. emetica (RFC = 0.37) registering the highest RFC followed by D. schimperi (RFC = 0.27), C. spinarum (RFC = 0.23) and Aloe spp. (RFC = 0.23) in that order. The exotic neem tree (A. indica) was commonly sought by buyers whereas trees and roots were the frequently traded plant habit and plant part respectively. Formal governance practices continue to attract a lot of interest and unrivalled attention as compared to community, cultural and societal driven informal governance practices. All practitioners followed the laid down formal governance practices whereas the traditional governance practices varied from market to market as their cultures, ethnic affiliations and herbal remedies vary in use and application. An all-inclusive effort must be put to place to ensure effective mainstreaming and long-lasting integration of TM into the general healthcare. Finally, most commonly traded medicinal plants are threatened daily with uncontrolled extraction must be conserved in the wild, cultivated or domesticated to preclude decline or extinction in the wild.