Medicinal plants and traditional healing practices in ehotile people, around the aby lagoon (eastern littoral of Côte d'Ivoire)

BACKGROUND: Access to useful plants is a growing problem in Africa, increased by the loss of natural vegetation and the erosion of traditional knowledge. Ethnobotany contributes to promote these indigenous knowledge. Despite the large diversity of ethnic groups in Côte d’Ivoire, few ethnomedicine researches have targeted these groups. Among the great Akan group, the Ehotile people are one of the smallest and oldest ethnic group around the Aby Lagoon. The goal of this study was to analyze the level of knowledge and use of medicinal plants by the Ehotile people, and moreover, contribute to build a database about useful plants of first Ivorian people. METHODS: Two sets of surveys were conducted in four Ehotile villages: a house-to-house freelist interview and an individual walk-in-the woods interview with some key informants identified by the community. Frequency of citation, Smith’s index, Use value and Informant Consensus Factor were used to estimate the local knowledge of medicinal plants. RESULTS: Medicinal plants are widely used by Ehotile people. Some were used in addition to modern prescriptions while for some disorders commonly called “African diseases” only plants are used. 123 species employed in the treatment of 57 diseases were listed. Specifically, the most common indications included malaria, sexual asthenia, troubles linked to pregnancy, dysmenorrhoea and haemorrhoids. Analysis of freelists suggested that Ehotile people has a good knowledge of medicinal plants and the most salient included Harungana madagascariensis, Alstonia boonei, Ocimum gratissimum and Xylopia acutiflora. Regarding the consensus among key informants, ICF values were low (<0.5), however category of infectious and parasitic diseases obtained the best agreement (ICF = 0.42). Following the local experts, 4 types of plants availability were distinguished: Abundant plants easy to collect, abundant plants difficult to harvest, scarce plants and endangered plants. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the virtual disappearance of natural formations in Ehotile land, medicinal plants are important in the Ehotile health system. Medicinal plants are known and used alone or in addition to medical prescriptions to treat several ailments. However, some of them are becoming rare, and it is feared that this scarcity will result in the inevitable loss of associated knowledge and practices.