Medicinal Plants Used to Treat ‘African’ Diseases by the Local Communities of Bwambara Sub-county in Rukungiri District, Western Uganda

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: In Africa, traditional medicine encompasses a diverse range of practices, including herbalism and spiritualism, where some diseases are believed to be “African” since they can only be traditionally treated. Indigenous knowledge on the management of “African” diseases using medicinal plants is still handed down orally from generation to generation by tribal societies of tropical Africa, and with the rapid westernization of these societies there is a pressing need to record local knowledge before it is lost forever. Aim: This study documented medicinal plant species associated with the management of “African” diseases by the local communities of Bwambara sub-county in Rukungiri district, Western Uganda.