Antiplasmodial activity of stem bark and leaves of Alstonia boonei (De Wild)

Abstract

Malaria is one of the world’s leading epidemic widely spread in tropical and subtropical areas.1 The disease kills 1 million people worldwide annually, and an estimated 700,000 of them are children.2 Malaria is said to kill a child every 30 seconds, since with the onset of severe malaria, death may occur within 24 h or less.3 In Nigeria, malaria accounts for 30%-50% morbidity and 25% mortality in infants (Idowu et al., 2010). According to world malaria report 2017, Nigeria accounted for the highest proportion of global malaria cases (27%).4 During the past 30 years, malaria parasites especially Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) have rapidly developed resistance to commonly used antimalarial drugs.5 Due to the fact that effective vaccine to control malaria has not been successfully developed, hence antimalarial drugs are mainly focused. This has prompted research towards the development and discovery of new, safe, and affordable antimalarial chemotherapies. During last decade, several demonstrations have been conducted to explore antimalarial activity of many plants, including curcumin,6,7 green tea8 and others.9