Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants by the Ethnic Groups of Gondar Zuria District, North-Western Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to document information on medicinal plants and to describe the traditional health care practices of Gondar Zuria district, North-West Ethiopia. Field trip was made in each village of the district to collect ethnomedicinal information from the traditional healers by using semi-structured questionnaire and field observation. Forty-two plant species representing forty-one genera and thirty-one families were encountered during the study. Results of the study were analysed using two quantitative tools: informant consensus factor for the analysis of general use of medicinal plants and fidelity level for calculating the most frequently occurring diseases for the categories with the highest informant consensus factor. The result of the informant consensus factor showed that the general health category had the greatest agreement followed by the respiratory, malarial, and gastrointestinal categories. The present study has documented curious ethno medicinal facts on the plant therapies currently utilised in Gondar Zuria district. Evaluation of the pharmacological activity for the promising medicinal plant is suggested.