Ethnobotanical survey of herbs used in the management of diabetes mellitus in Southern Katanga Area/DR Congo

Introduction Diabetes is becoming a public health burden for sub-Saharan countries due to its prevalence which is growing rapidly. Traditional medicine is more and more used to treat diabetes in RD Congo as well as in other African countries. This study was undertaken in order to list plants used in the management of diabetes by traditional healers in four agglomerations of southern area of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Methods Forty-nine traditional healers were randomly met and interviewed about diabetes treatment in traditional medicine. The survey concerned the plant identification, their part used, method of preparation and the route of administration. The inquest concerned also traditional medicine users. Results Ninety-five plants from 47 families were indicated as antidiabetic. Fabaceae (24.2%), Euphorbiaceae (7.4%), Apocynaceae and Strychnaceae (4.2 each) are the more representative families. This inventory showed that the root is the most used part of the cited plants, the decoction with water as the main preparation method and the oral administration as the principal way to give antidiabetic traditional formulations. Conclusion In Lubumbashi region, many plant species are used to treat diabetes either through traditional praticians or by anyone from well-known ancestral knowledge.


Introduction
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic syndrome characterized by chronic high-blood glucose concentrations resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both and having consequences on lipids and proteins metabolism [1,2]. According to the International Federation of Diabetes (IDF) there were 415 million people in the world with diabetes in 2015 and this is projected to increase to 642 million by 2040 [3]. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rapidly growing up [4,5]. From 2003 to 2013 the number of diabetic patients has increased alarmingly from 552 thousands to 1.6 million; and the proportion of people with undiagnosed diabetes may reach 75% due to resourcelimited health care [6,7]. On one side the limited access to conventional drugs and health care system, the faith on ancestral culture healing practices on the other hand, bring more people to traditional medicine where herbal drugs are widely used. Traditional medicine is still the mainstay of millions Congolese as well as other Africans [8]. In light of that, we decided to collect information about the plants used traditionally in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in southern Katanga area, DRC.

Results
About fifty traditional healers were visited and interviewed on their knowledge and on diabetes treatment after their assent. The data obtained from different traditional healers on their knowledge and on vegetable species used in the management of diabetes are given in Table 1 and Annex 1. Table 1 gives information about traditional practitioners (tribe, age, sex and how he or she became healer). Annex 1 gives information about plant species: local name, plant parts used, methods of preparation, administration and different diseases treated. Scientific names were given after botanical identification of harvested samples and listed in the table in alphabetical order. As indicated in the Table 1, 49 traditional healers allotted between twelve tribes, whose 16 women (32.65 %) and 33 men (67.34 %) were interviewed. Without accurate sociological information on these different tribes, it is not easy to explain clearly why there are more men traditional healers than women. However, we think that three reasons would explain that: (i) the will of advertising (use of poster, streamer, cartoon) that is more remarkable to men than to women; (ii) the fact that during the inquest time, more women than men are absent for field work would explain why there are more men traditional healers known than women; and (iii) it is possible that the practice of traditional medecine is guided by socio-cultural characteristics such as kinship system (patriarchy or matriarchy) as observed in the Mafa tribe of Cameroun [10]. As it can be observed the main source of traditional medicine knowledge remains the ancestral transmission way from old people to young ones (39/49). This may be explained by the fact that, traditional medicine is a cultural component which spread through generations from ascendants to descendants and based on oral transmission in Africa [8,11,12]. We notify that the Luba and Bemba tribes are the most representative tribes among the traditional practitioners respectively with 28.57% and 16.32%, only because they are the most numerous in the areas of inquiry

Discussion
This is a first report of an ethnobotanical survey of species used as antidiabetic in the study area. and so far uncited herbs that must be evaluated for hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic and other diabetic related symptoms; so that they may possibly be used in the management of diabetes.
What is known about this topic  For this topic, it is known that the population of given.

Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.

Authors' contributions
All the authors have read and agreed to the final manuscript.
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