Aim: This ethnobotanical survey was conducted to investigate the pattern of treatment
practices and medicinal plants used for malaria therapy in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Methods: Focus group discussions were initially held with traditional herbal medicine practitioners
(THMPs), herb retailers (HRs), elderly people, nursing mothers and undergraduate
students to identify who had ever used herbs to treat malaria fever. Participants were
recruited from various local government areas in Lagos. Five hundred and fifty eligible
participants were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire purposely designed to
collect information on the type, composition, method of preparation, dosage, and mode of
administration of herbal preparations used as local antimalarial therapies.
Results: Herb sellers (36.4%), THMPs (27.3%), nursing mothers (27.3%), undergraduate students
with knowledge of herb use (5.5%), and elderly people with knowledge of herb use
(3.5%) were the participants in this study. Forty one plant species belonging to 27 families
were identified as being used locally for antimalarial herbal recipes. Of these Enantia chlorantha
(31.5%), Carica papaya (27.5%), Azadirachta indica (25.5%), Cymbopogon citrates (23.3%),
Morinda lucida (22.7%), Mangifera indica (21.1%), and Alstonia boonei (20.5%) were the most
frequently used plants. The stem barks, roots, leaves or whole plants were the plant parts
most frequently used. These were used either alone or in combination with other plant
parts. Different plant species were also used in combinations.
Conclusion: Indigenous plants with potential antimalarial properties were identified in this
survey. The plants could serve as good sources of new antimalarial plant therapies