An Ethnobotanical Survey of Herbal Drugs of Gourma District, Mali

Abstract

The Gourma population has a vast knowledge of medicinal plants, as demonstrated in this survey carried out between 1999 to 1991 with herbalists, traditional healers and resource persons, as well as 424 households as informants. This investigation includes 42 species of major use in native medicine for rural health care in the Gourma region. These plants belong to 23 families and are used in the treatment of digestive disorders, malaria, skin diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory complaints. The plants identified are a potential source for new bioactive compounds of therapeutic value in Malian medicine.