Insect repellent plants traditional usage practices in the Ethiopian malaria epidemic-prone setting: an ethnobotanical survey

BACKGROUND: The usage of insect repellent plants (IRPs) is one of the centuries-old practices in Africa. In Ethiopia, malaria remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, subsequently the majority of people have a tendency to apply various plants as repellents to reduce or interrupt the biting activity of insects. Accordingly, this survey was undertaken to document and evaluate knowledge and usage practices of the local inhabitants on IRPs in the malaria epidemic-prone setting of Ethiopia. METHODS: Ethnobotanical survey was conducted between January and May 2013. Selected 309 household members were interviewed by administering pre-tested questionnaire on knowledge and usage practices of repellent plants, in Bechobore Kebele, Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. RESULTS: Overall, 70.2% (217/309) and 91.8% (199/217) of the respondents have had ample awareness and usage practices of repellent plants, respectively. Informants cited about twenty-two plant species as repellents and also indicated that these plants are useful(85.5%), accessible(86.8%), and affordable(83.9%) too. Residents mainly applying dried leaves [93.9% (187/199)] by means of burning/smouldering [98.9% (197/199)] with the traditional charcoal stove to repel insects, primarily mosquitoes. About 52.8% (105/199) of the informants using aproximately15g of dried plant-materials every day. A Chi-square analysis shows statistically a significant link between the knowledge on repellent plants and gender as well as average monthly income although not with the age of the respondents. Nevertheless, the repellent plant usage custom was not significantly associated with gender, monthly income, and age of the informants. CONCLUSION: Though most of the people have had an adequate awareness still a sizable faction of society suffers with deprivation of IRPs knowledge and usage practices. Therefore, this study calls for more surveys to conserve the existing indigenous knowledge and cultural practices. It could lay the first stone to develop the next generation cost-effective vector control tools in the near future.