Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Common Parasitic Diseases by Traditional Practitioners in Kabul City, Afghanistan

¹Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

² Department of Pharmacy, Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences, Afghanistan

³Department of Biochemistry-Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

⁴Pharm- D, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

*Corresponding author: Rabia Ayoubi, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan, Tel: +93790105386; E-mail: [email protected]

Received Date: May 10, 2024

Publication Date: June 06, 2024

Citation: Ayoubi R, et al. (2024). Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Common Parasitic Diseases by Traditional Practitioners in Kabul City, Afghanistan. Traditional Medicine. 5(1):22.

Copyright: Ayoubi R, et al. © (2024).

ABSTRACT

The use of traditional medicine (TM) methods, especially phytotherapy, for the treatment of most common and dangerous infectious diseases such as parasitic diseases (PDs) is common in many developing countries worldwide, including Afghanistan. During many centuries, humans have suffered many injuries from parasites, and PDs, such as yellow fever, malaria and hookworm infections in tropical, poor and developing countries which are among the main causes of human mortality. The main purpose of this research was to introduce medicinal plants (MPs) used for the treatment of common PDs by traditional practitioners (TPs) in Kabul city. The study was a field research conducted on the months of August and September 2020. Kabul city was selected as the field of study. Cross-sectional convenience sampling was used for data collection. The required information was randomly collected from seven districts of Kabul city and accepted as sample. TPs were selected as participants and interviewed using prepared questionnaires. The results of this study showed that a total of 29 MPs from 16 plant families were used by TPs for the treatment of common PDs, and mostly the underground parts, herbs, fruits and leaves of the mentioned plants were used in the form of decoction, infusion, extracts and powdered for this purpose. The effectiveness of using MPs to treat PDs by TPs in Kabul city, in most of the cases, matches the rational phytotherapy. However, further studies are needed to ensure the identity, purity, quality and uniformity of MPs and their recommended dosage forms throughout the city.

Keywords: Parasitic Diseases, Medicinal Plants, Traditional Medicine, Kabul city, Afghanistan.