Community knowledge of traditional mosquito repellent plants in Kolla Temben District, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Insect repellents have been used to reduce human-vector contact for long periods of time in different parts of the world. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of traditional mosquito repellent plants among inhabitants of Kolla Temben district, Ethiopia. Two hundred and forty households were selected for an ethnobotanical survey using stratified, systematic random sampling. One adult leader from each household was interviewed on her or his knowledge about traditional mosquito repellent plants. The ethnobotanical survey was carried out from January - March, 2010. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS, version 16. The level of significance was determined using 95% confidence interval. Ninety-five percent of the respondents had knowledge regarding traditional mosquito repellent plants. Application of smoke by burning (73%) the parts plants was the most common practice among the inhabitants. There was no significant association between knowledge of traditional mosquito repellent plants with age (p = 0.402), sex (p = 0.067) or educational status (p = 0.052) of the respondents. Moreover, the survey revealed that the most commonly known traditional mosquito repellent plants were Otostegia integrifolia (41.7%), Silene macroserene (24.6%,) (Olea europeae (22.5%), Melia azedarach (17.5%), Calpurnia aurea (9.6%),Dodonaea angustifolia (8.7%), Eucalyptus globulus (8.3%), Ere (Aloe spp) 6.7% and Sasa (Otostegia fruticosa) 2.5%. These preliminary findings suggested that the studied community has potentially important knowledge about traditional mosquito repellent plants. Therefore, further study on conserving the knowledge and evaluating the efficacy of the plants must be done.   Key words: Ethno botanical survey, Mosquito repellent plants, knowledge, Kolla Temben.