Herbal medicine in the treatment of poverty associated parasitic diseases: A case of sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, parasitic diseases including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), account for the largest portion of its disease burden. This is due to lack of effective drugs and reduced funding of disease management and control making traditional medicine (TM) the better option. However, TM has a paucity of information on its efficacy and safety. This review explores the use of medicinal plants against parasitic diseases, highlighting current information available while identifying gaps in research that can be explored to establish the use of African medicinal plants against parasitic infections in Africa. Information on medicinal plants and their use against protozoan and helminthic infections was retrieved from online bibliographic databases like MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, DOAJ and Google Scholar®. In Africa, medicinal plants are widely used to treat malaria, Leishmaniasis, Trypanosomiasis, Helminthic infections, Onchocerciasis, Lymphatic filariasis, Schistosomiasis, Toxoplasmosis and Echinococcosis infections. However, safety, efficacy and dosage of these medicinal herbs have not been investigated fully. In addition, no value addition venture has been undertaken to develop herbal natural products into tablets, pills and formulations. In conclusion, African medicinal plants are a potential source of lead compounds for drug discovery and the production of phytopharmaceuticals in the management of devastating parasitic diseases. There is a need to apply traditional medicine knowledge in clinical applications via value addition.