From time immemorial, malaria has always been a major public health problem in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. It was a threat to colonialism under.

LOCAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE FOREST AND MANAGEMENT OF MALARIA IN RURAL NIGERIA

Abdullahi, AA (Ph.D.) Senekal, A (Ph.D.) & Van Zyl-Schalekamp, C. (Ph.D.)Departments of Sociology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria and University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Correspondence to Abdullahi, A.A. @ [email protected]. Tel: +234 806 969 6844

Background

From time immemorial, malaria has always been a major public health problem in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

It was a threat to colonialism under the Western imperialistic occupations, hence, became one of the priorities of the colonialists not only to ‘help’ the local people but to match-forward ‘civilization’

Background Cont.

However, more than a century of war against malaria in Africa the burden of malaria is yet to be abated.

For instance, more than 250 000 children below the age of five die from malaria every year in Nigeria (FMoH, 2009: 10) representing 30% of infant mortality (Okafor and Amzat, 2007: 156) and 25% of the global malaria deaths in children (Abdullahi et al. 2012; Abdullahi, 2011).

Background Cont.

Retrospectively, several years prior to colonial contacts, local people across African indigenous communities, including Nigeria, had coped with and managed the threat of malaria using indigenous knowledge of medicine (IKM).

However, IKM was discountenanced and became an object of ridicule under the colonial tutelage across African societies, including Nigeria, based on the belief that it was ‘unscientific’ and ‘backward’.

Background Cont.

However, use of IKM has continued to thrive and blossom in African most populous country, Nigeria, especially among local people who have lived very close to the forests where the ingredients for IKM are readily available without a cost.

This study examines local perceptions of the forest and management of malaria in rural Nigeria with a view to contribute to the on-going global discourses around indigenous knowledge (IK) preservation for sustainable development.

Methodology

Study Area Okanle and Fajeromi in Ifelodun Local

Government of Kwara State, Nigeria. Data gathered in 2009 with a follow-up in

2010. An update was carried out in May 2013. Both communities are rich in forest resources

where livelihood depends. Data Collection Techniques

Semi-Structured Interview (20), IDIs (10), FGDs (2)

Sampling Techniques Purposive Non-probability

Data Analysis Techniques Content Analysis

Perceptions of the forest by the locals

• The locals perceived the forests as a major part of their livelihood, identity and well-being.

• The locals are emotionally, spiritually and culturally attached to the forests. Apart from meeting their profane and daily needs, forests provide trees and plants that contain biological components which are transformed into medicines and health diet by the local people.

The natural environment in Okanle

Perceived Symptoms of Malaria in Children

• The majority of the caregivers believed that malaria in children could be manifested through: high body temperature, vomiting, headache, uncharacteristic quietness, loss of appetite and weight loss.

• It surfaces from this that there is a correspondence between biomedical construction of symptoms of malaria (uncomplicated) and community’s understanding of symptoms of malaria.

Management of Malaria in Children

Treatment of malaria in children usually commences at home with herbal medicines generally sourced from the forests with majority of parents ignoring the modern health facilities.

The therapies used comprised principally of local plants, bark of a tree and roots, which are usually boiled together to make malaria herbs known as agbo-iba. This is usually administered at least three times daily as long as the symptoms persisted.

Some dry plants used in the treatment of malaria

Results cont.

The efficacies of IKM in the management of malaria in children, including adults, were expressed by the majority of the respondents.

Statements such as “everybody in this village knows that I don’t take my children to the hospital” and that “most modern drugs are extracts from local trees and plants” are testimonies to the perceived efficacies.

Surprisingly, no specific individual persons regarded or known as traditional healers professionally trained in IKM. Almost everybody in the village is a “healer” as reported by a 70 year old grandfather.

Conclusion As the search for anti-malaria vaccines

continues, the alternative drugs, usually the artemisinin based Combination Therapies (ACTs), are becoming too expensive for the poor people.

Indeed, IKM might hold the key to affordable, cheaper and better alternative therapies to malaria treatment in both children and the adults.

Thank You for Listening