Inventory of Medicinal Plants The Treatment and Prevention of Malaria in The East Sentani District, Jayapura Regency

Abstract

Traditional medicine is still widely used as an alternative medication in society especially in the form of plant material. Malaria is one of a communicable disease with the high number of its incidence in Papua. Traditional plants commonly used by people in Jayapura Regency for malaria treatment are papaya, Carica papaya L. (C. papaya), sambiloto, Andrographis paniculata, (A. paniculata) leaves, milk wood and turmeric. Each was prepared with different processing method including boiled, mashed and grated. However, the literature on the description of malaria treatment using traditional medicine is very limited. This research was carried out with the aim of carrying out an inventory of medicinal plants for the treatment and prevention of malaria in the East Sentani area, Jayapura Regency. This research was a descriptive study performed in 7 villages of East Sentani Timur District, with total sample were 210 respondent data. Respondent was given a questionary to collect data of plants used as prevention and medication for malaria. The results revealed the plants used by the community in East Sentani District in treating and preventing malaria were mostly C. papaya leaves (47.1%), A. paniculata leaves (44.3%) and other plants (under 5%) such as bitter melon (3.3%), and African leaves (1.9%). The plant parts used for the treatment and prevention of malaria were mainly the leaves (98.5%). The method of processing plants was mostly by boiling the plant (88.1%), brewing with hot water (4.8%) and squeezing (4.3%). The way to use of plants for the treatment of malaria was by drinking (97.6%). The dose used by most respondents was mostly by 1 cup (62.9%). The sources of antimalarial medicinal plants from the yard of the house were 108 respondents (51.4%). From this research, plants which widely used in the treatment and prevention of malaria by the people of the East Sentani district were C. papaya and A. paniculata.