Muti is a word derived from medicinal plant and refers to traditionally sourced plant, mineral, and animal-based medicines. [25]. Ethnobotanical surveys involve the interaction with the people and their environment and are therefore participatory approaches, in which local people are able to contribute their knowledge on the uses of plants within their environment. This calls for improved collaboration between traditional practitioners and modern health care professionals, researchers, and drug regulatory authorities. In Nigeria, and indeed the entire West Africa, herbal medicine has continued to gain momentum, some of the advantages being low cost, affordability, availability, acceptability, and apparently low toxicity [16, 17]. It is therefore likely that many adverse drugs reactions go unrecorded with either patients failing to divulge information to health services, and no pharmacovigilance analyses are being carried out, or the observations are not being reported to appropriate quarters such as health regulatory bodies. It is an art to know these and to use them correctly to bring about health and harmony, which is the aim of all true traditional healers. Sometimes, an effigy made of clay or wax would be used to represent the demon and would ultimately be destroyed. These items are usually specified by the gods. Illness is believed to be of natural, cultural, or social origin [8]. The use of herbal drugs dwindled toward the end of the 19th century due to the advent of synthetic chemistry. Spiritual-based cases are handled in the following manner: Spiritual protection: If the cause of the disease is perceived to be an attack from evil spirits, the person would be protected by the use of a talisman, charm, amulets, specially designed body marks, and a spiritual bath to drive the evil spirits away. The liquid could also be water or in modern times, wine, whisky, schnapps, or gin. Traditional medical practitioner (TMP), however, seems to be a modern acceptable concept agreed on by the Scientific Technical and Research Commission (STRC) of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which is now African Union (AU). Ashing—The dried parts are incinerated to ash, then sieved and added as such to water or food. Also, degree-awarding traditional medical schools now train and graduate traditional medical doctors. Another prominent member of the association, Professor J.C. Okafor, who is a renowned silviculturist and plant taxonomist, is helping members to identify and classify plants. Many coastal South African farm stalls sell the jam (also referred to as hotnotsvy, suurvy, perdevy and ghaukum) that can be eaten on its own or used in dishes such as curry. Successful treatments became formalized, sometimes with prescriptions of correct methods of preparation and dosage. Dried plants may be burnt, and their charcoal is used as such. Establishing a diagnosis of herbal toxicity can be difficult. African traditional medicine is a form of holistic health care system that is organized into three levels of specialty, which include divination, spiritualism, and herbalism, though these may overlap in some situations [2, 3]. Supplication: After invocation, requests are made to the invoked spirits, gods, or ancestors to intercede on their behalf for mercy and forgiveness of offenses such as taboo violations and to seek for spiritual consecration (cleansing) of either the community or individual(s). Therefore, those who wish evil (i.e., enemies, witches, and people with evil powers) on them should fall and die [8]. The increasing widespread use of traditional medicine has prompted the WHO to promote the integration of traditional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine into the national health care systems of some countries and to encourage the development of national policy and regulations as essential indicators of the level of integration of such medicine within a national health care system. Their role is so remarkable since it arises from a thorough knowledge of the medicinal properties of indigenous plants and the pharmaceutical steps necessary in turning such plants into drugs such as the selection, compounding, dosage, efficacy, and toxicity. The importance of traditional medicine, however, dwindled during the colonial period, whereby it was viewed as inferior to Western medicine. Effect of length of use of herbal medicine on serum enzyme levels. The traditional healers known as the Sangoma or Inyanga are holders of healing power in the southern Bantu society. The development and use of traditional herbal medicine (THM) have a very long historical background that corresponds to the Stone Age. In many cases, they combine both modern and herbal medicines, especially if they are afflicted by chronic ailments such as HIV/AIDS, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes [50]. Very few adverse reactions have been reported for herbal medicines, especially when used concurrently with conventional or orthodox medicines [15]. Even when herbal-related toxicity is suspected, a definitive diagnosis is difficult to establish without proper analysis of the product or plant material. We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Potash may be added to aid extraction and as preservative. Rather than viewing African herbal medicine to be inferior, it may yet turn out to be the answer to the treatment of a host of both existing and emerging diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, ebola, zika, etc., that may defy orthodox medicine. It is said to help lower cholesterol, aid with Type 2 Diabetes, and reduce high blood pressure. It is, therefore, an integral part of an African traditional way of diagnosing diseases. They are things, or a way of life, that are forbidden by a community or a group of people. Buchu contains naturally occurring antioxidants and bioflavonoids such as quercetin, rutin, hesperidin, diosimin, diosphenol, and vitamins A, B, and E and is most commonly consumed as a tea. Traditional medicine in Tanzania is used by people of all ages in both urban and rural areas for both simple and chronic diseases. It is estimated that more than half of all synthetic drugs in use are derived from plants [25]. The two men divulged that the old concept of secrecy and divination is gradually fading away and being taken over by improved skills, understanding, and use of modern equipment where necessary. Besides, ratio of medical doctors to the patients is about 1:20000, while for traditional healers, the ratio is 1:200. It is also viewed as a way to access information that is normally beyond the reach of the rational mind. This therefore calls for ensuring that the raw materials should be of high quality, free from contaminations and properly authenticated, and samples deposited in University, National, and Regional herbaria. The first point of view dictates that the information presented in these medieval texts were merely copied from their classical equivalents without much thought or understanding. These new herbs from Africa can easily be used in teas, steams, in the bathtub, or in a multitude of other ways to heal your body from the inside out! Chemical components or phytochemicals found in plants that are responsible for the various therapeutic effects include alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, acids, coumarins, sterols, phenols, etc. Others are steaming and inhaling the volatile oils exuding from the boiling plant material. Poultices are prepared from macerated fresh part of plant containing the juice from the plant and applied to skin. Gruels are cereals/porridges made from grains, to which dried powdered plant or its ash is added to be taken orally. Some of the practices which involve rituals and divinations are beyond the scope of nontraditionalists such as Christians who find it incomprehensible, unacceptable, and difficult to access such services [8, 62]. Because of the revealing powers of divination, it is usually the first step in African traditional treatment and medicine [32].
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