The use of antimalarial plants as traditional treatment in Papua Island, Indonesia

The residents of the Eastern part of Indonesia, specifically, Papua and West Papua provinces, are dependent on traditional medicines with the use of plants, which includes treating malaria. However, there are limited information on the diversity of medicinal plants in Papua Island. Hence, the Indonesian Ministry of Health put together a database of all the natural plant-based raw materials in Indonesia, to address part of the issues encountered as a result of the limited information on the diversity of plants. Based on this background, the aim of the research was to analyze the information on medicinal plants used by the traditional healers in Papua Island based on the results of research on medicinal plants and Jamu (RISTOJA), especially in treating malaria. Data were obtained through ethnomedicine research conducted in 2012 and 2017 involving 54 ethnicities in Papua. Based on the results, 72 species of medicinal plants from 67 genera and 40 families were used traditionally in treating malaria on Papua Island. The most common medicinal plants used as traditional antimalarial concoction are Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br., Carica papaya L., Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees, and Physalis minima L. Similar to other ethnobotany research, the leaves were the most used plant parts in preparing the various traditional concoctions.