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Advances in Pharmacology & Clinical Trials Research Article 30 min read

Validation of Ewefa as Herbal Recipes for Reproductive Health Problems (Rhps) among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria

Aderemi SA*, Sonibare MA, Gbadamosi IT, Olaleye SK, Odeku O, Adegoke AO and Adejumo AG
* Corresponding author
ISSN: 2474-9214  10.23880/apct-16000167  Received: August 25, 2019  Published: September 12, 2019
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Keywords
Ethno Botanical Survey Reproductive Health Traditional Knowledge Ewefa Herbal Remedies South Western Nigeria
Abstract

Ifa scriptural verses contain a number of herbs for healing different ailments among the Yoru ba of south-western Nigeria. Thus, Ifa is one of the epistemologies of Yoru ba herbal healing system. Due to religious sentiments and secrecy arising from patenting, hermeneutic analysis and validation of Ifa-based herbs (Ewefa ) is yet to be scientifically engaged. This paper therefore analyses some Ifa verses and identifies the herbs mentioned in them for validation, focussing reproductive health problems (RHPs). Thirty medicinal plants mentioned in six selected Ifa verses (E jiogbe, O gu nda bede, Oyeku-Mejì, Ogbe- Turupon, Iworì- Ofun, and Otura-Mejì) for the treatment and management of RHPs were identified. Ethnographic and ethno-botanical surveys of those herbs were conducted in Bode central herbs market in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. Key informants interviews, observation, and semi-structured ethno-botanical questionnaire were used. Interviews focused on sources of Ewefa and mode of treatment in RHPs, botanical information on Ewefa, knowledge value of identified Ewefa, and uses and validation of Ewefa in the treatment of RHPs. Nineteen respondents, mainly the herb sellers (78.9%) and some traditional medical practitioners (TMPs, 21.1%) were involved in the survey. All the respondents were female, aged 41-60 years (52.6%) and 78.9% of them were Muslims. Herbal preparations are infusion, decoction, tincture, charring, squeezing, concoction, herbal soap and powder. Herb administrations are oral, topical and as baths. Oral therapies are administered mostly three times daily. Most of the herbs are sourced from the tropical rainforest region of south-western Nigeria. Ifa-based herbs are valuable as blood tonic, anti-infection, fertility herbs,

Introduction

An increased attention has been recently paid to aspects of indigenous knowledge especially the African divination systems, yet, several aspects of divination system are not deeply explored. Significantly, due to religious sentiment and problem of patenting orally transmitted indigenous knowledge in many African societies, where divination is an everyday reality, its medicinal contents are yet to be explored into drug discovery. Virtually all African societies practice divination where divination still remains a pungent discourse and resilient in spiritual context [1], and used to investigate and discovering problems affecting humans including health challenges. Through divination too, solutions to the problems are discovered. In Democratic Republic of Congo, the Yaka divination is engaged to seek healing solutions to any health problems and misfortunes and the Xhosa healers in Eastern Cape of South Africa rely on divination as a source of healing [2]. There is indeed a dynamics between social reality, divination and bio- medicine in traditional African societies. Thus, in De’ Surgy’s opinion [3] divination is a well-established phenomenon and a system that informs and stimulates ritual acts, which pervades African traditional societies. Being a phenomenon as described by De’ Surgy [3], it is undesirable that the current research focus on African divination has not been extended beyond literary, oratory contexts and certain philosophical aspects, thus leaving out its medicinal aspects.

Lack of enough attention given to medicinal research on Ifá is partly due to religious sentiment and lack of patenting on orally transmitted African indigenous knowledge in which Yorùbá Ifá belongs. With the spread of Christianity and Islam in Nigeria preaching the gospel of paradise based on modernity and civilization, a lot of traditional practices including traditional faith based healings are seen as contradictions to Christian and Islamic concepts of paradise and spiritual holiness.

Significantly, Ifá healing system is seen as devilish and satanic mostly among the Pentecostal Christians and new Islamic movements such as Ansar U deen, Quareeb and Tablighi Sects of Moslems. Worsening the situation is the problem of patenting orally transmitted indigenous knowledge in Africa, which encouraged the secret preservation of lots of indigenous knowledge. Mostly affected by secret preservation of knowledge is Ifá compendium, which is largely undocumented and existing in esoteric languages that are often difficult to interpret. Specifically medicinal contents of Ifá including the Ifá- based herbs are symbolically coded to avoid intellectual property corruptions. Based on these two problems, Ifá medicinal practice is not widely opened to scientific research.

Among the Yorùbá of south-western Nigeria, Ifá is a divinatory system employed to solve human problems [4]. Being a traditional divination and spiritual practice among the people, Ifá began from time immemorial. It is a mythological narrative of knowledge about human existence compiled as a form of traditional oral scripture. Thus, Ifá is used to divine the prospect of actions, diagnose diseases and seek healing among others. While the practice is profound, the unpopular aspect of the system, which has received less research attention, is its herbal content. A lot of the orally scripted Ifá verses contain herbal recipes (Ewé’fá) from where the Ifá priests (Babaláwo) derive healing regimes against the diagnosed diseases. Several verses of the scripture contain a good number of herbal recipes, which are secretly coded hermeneutically, and of which the identification and analysis is mostly known by Babaláwo and others who carefully understand the esoteric language of Ifá [5]. Babaláwo extract and use Ifá-based herbs (Ewé’fá) without much scientific research efforts to literarily and linguistically analyse, explore, validate and make efforts to engage them in drug discovery. Hence, just as Ifá reveals Yorùbá history and cultural practices, Ifá divination is a repository of Yorùbá medical knowledge.

Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

Ifa is commonly sought for solutions against Reproductive Health Problems (RHPs).

RHPs include health risks against fertility, pregnancy and safe motherhood, which is a serious health problem with high prevalence in Nigeria. In many cultural groups like the Yoruba, it is regarded as debilitating health problem having multiple causations- preternatural, cultural, and biological. The Yoruba values child bearing as proceed of successful marriage and do everything possible to ensure that marriages are blessed with child bearing. While challenges against child bearing may be cultural, preternatural (spiritual) and biological; biological and preternatural causes are mostly emphasised among the Yoruba. In men, infertility can be caused by abnormal sperm, low sperm mobility and low sperm count commonly attributed to genetic factors, mumps, hypospadias, cystic fibrosis and ejaculation disorder. In women, biological risks against pregnancy and fertility are commonly caused by ovulation disorder, womb infection, problems in the uterus or fallopian tubes and several complications at child birth [6]. Cumulatively these health problems are said to be affecting around one- third of marriages in Nigeria with hypospadias affecting one in every five hundred new born child. Due to the cultural perception of child bearing and prevalence of biological risks related to RHPs, spiritual based healing is mostly sought against the health problems, among which Ifa healing system is commonly patronised.

In Ifá verses of E jì̀ogbè, Ò gúndábède, Ò yèkú -Méjì, Ogbè- Túrúpòn, Ìwòrì- Òfún, and Òtúrá-Méjì among others, are enshrined various medicinal plants and animal components for the treatment of Reproductive Health Problems (RHPs). Exploring these herbal recipes into health solutions, the consulting Babaláwo (Ifá Priest) casts divination where emerges the verses that contain the best health solutions to the reproductive health problem(s) affecting the client. Since the herbal recipes are secretly coded hermeneutically, only the Babaláwo can interpret and decode the herbs and animal components in the verses [7]. The processes of identification of the corresponding verses to the client’s health problem, decoding and extraction of the herbal recipes in the verses and application to solving the diagnosed health problem may seem unscientific and unexplainable if relying on cosmopolitan scientific paradigm as observed in many African divination systems [8]. But relying on ethno-scientific paradigm, which suggests an understanding of the specific structure and function of a specific cultural action in the analysis and evaluation of such action, according to Geertz [9], gives a more interpretive meaning of Ifá divination and its medicinal contents become more appreciated. Geertz’s idea therefore suggests a link between Yorùbá bio- medicine and divination.

Following from the above therefore, in recognition of the dearth of interest on critical analysis of Ewé’fá in Ifá divination, and the perceived functionality of the use of Ewé’fá especially in treating reproductive health problems, the need to validate these Ewé’fá into drug discovery becomes imperative. Pursuing this research objective, a research team comprising of Medical anthropologist, Linguist, scholar in African traditional religion, Botanist, Pharmaceutical chemist, Pharmacognosist and Industrial pharmacist engaged in investigation using ethnography, literary and linguistic analysis of some Ifá verses, ethno-botanical survey of the identified Ewé’fá and laboratory verification and examination of the identified Ewé’fá.

Materials and Methods

Study Area

Ethnography was conducted in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town of Nigeria. Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ is a traditional Yorùbá community, which was believed to have been in existence more than 800 years ago. At the peak of its development the town was associated with vast and powerful kingdom, traditional technology and industries such as calabash decoration, local textile technology and weaving of crown among others. The town was also one of the earliest Yorùbá centres of traditional medicine, the feature which the town still retains till present as it parades large number of traditional herbal practitioners among which Ifá herbal healers (Babaláwo) are predominant. In recognition of this important feature, in 2007, United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Òrganization (UNESCÒ) supported the establishment and funding of Ifá training institute known as Ifá Heritage College. Among major focus of the College training and research is Ifá Medicine. Many graduates of the College have settled in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town engaging in Ifá healing practices, thus increasing the number of Ifá healing practitioners in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town.

The market ethno-botanical survey was conducted in Bode traditional herb market located in southwest local government area of Ibadan, Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ State. Ibadan is the most populous city in south-western Nigeria, where virtually all the 22 Yorùbá sub-ethnic groups can be identified. The market is located within the rainforest region of south- western Nigeria. The herb market had served as an Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

Indigenous market for many decades with herb traders from different villages within and outside Ibadan.

Methodology

Investigation began with ethnography of Ewé'fá. A purposive selection of fifteen Ifá priests who are traditional healers specialised in reproductive health as key informants was done in Óyó town of south-western Nigeria. They were asked to mention Ifá verses containing herbs and animal components for healing reproductive health problems. Only six chapters of Ifá scripture containing Ifá-based herbs were selected for critical analysis. Each of the selected Ifá priests chanted verses of the selected chapters that contain Ifá –based herbs and hermeneutic analysis of the verses were done to identify the herbs and animal components contained in them. Divination process for clients and how herbal solutions were prepared were also carefully observed through case study analysis of seventeen healing sessions in two weeks. In some instances samples of the identified herbs were collected for botanical verifications. Due to sublinguistic variations among the Yorùbá, generalised terms, apart from local terms of the identified herbs and animal components were derived. This was made possible through literary and linguistic analysis of the various names of the herbal recipes identified in Ifá verses.

Following the ethnographic and linguistic analysis, categorization of the herbs and identification of their botanical names were done by botanist; while the validation of the herbal recipes was done through ethno-botanical survey among the local herbs sellers in Bode central herb market in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The focus of the survey was to investigate the indigenous knowledge of herbs sellers at the Bode market on the use of Ewé'fá recipes for reproductive health problems. A prior visit was made to the market to obtain informed consent of respondents and participants of the survey. The essence of the study was explained to the participants in clear terms. On arrival at the market, investigators comprising of principal investigators and research assistants were allocated to the different respondents to administer the questionnaires. It was a market day in which many old women who deal in herb sales came from the surrounding villages to sell. Also, there were many customers that came to buy herbs. In administering the questionnaires, oral interviews were engaged to elicit information from the respondents and their responses were filled into the questionnaires.

This method was adopted because most of the respondents could neither read nor write. Some of the questions that were responded to included demographic information, knowledge of the plants to be validated, local names, popular use and other uses, place of collection or plant source, method of preparation of recipe, other ingredients added to recipe, mode of administration, side effects, etc (Table 1). Mode of treatments was also investigated in which questions relating to frequency and duration of RHPs treatment; economic value of plants and other ingredients added to the recipes. Bode is a local market centre where a large section of the market is noted for local herb stores. Ethno-botanical survey featured verification of the identified herbs among the herb sellers, ascertaining their common names and availability in the locality. All the identified herbs were collected from herbs sellers for botanical classification.

| Plants | Ns | ns | Np | A | U | Nh | n |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Berlinia grandiflora | 9 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 11 |
| Uraria picta | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Aframomum melegueta | 7 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Allium ascalonicum | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Baphia nitida | 12 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Chrysophyllum albidum | 16 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Clerodendrum sp. | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Cocos nucifera | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Corchorus olitorius | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cyperus esculentus | 12 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Dioclea reflexa | 18 | 1 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Elaeis guineensis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Euphorbia laterifolia | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Jatropha curcas | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jatropha gossypifolia | 13 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 |

Leea guineense9419822
Mallotus oppositifolius6406500
Mammea africana6356523
Mimosa pudica9409900
Olyra latifolia4204411
Parquetina nigrescens6356500
Petivera alliacea1101100
Piper guineense1543151500
Pseudocedrela kotyschyi8108700
Securidaca longepedunculata9429900
Synedrella nodiflora7307700
Uvaria afzelii1150111100
Xylopia aethiopica2102100
Aframomum melegueta102110800
Allium ascalonicum1341131200

Table 1: Socio-cultural Variables Relating to use of Ewé’fá in RHPs among the Ethno-botanical Survey Respondents. Ns: Number of r

Table 1: Socio-cultural Variables Relating to use of Ewé’fá in RHPs among the Ethno-botanical Survey Respondents. Ns: Number of respondents who use the medicinal plant for any purpose, ns: number of medicinal uses, Np: number of respondents claiming a specific RHP use, A: respondents who use the plant without necessarily knowing the stated local name, U: Respondent who use the plant, Nh: Number of homogenous names given by respondents, n. total number of respondents who have local names for the plant.

VariablesCategoryNumber of response (Nr)%Nr
Frequency of Treatment in RHPs among
the Herb Sellers		Regular
Irregular
No treatment		10
6
3		52.6
31.6
15.8
Use of Other Recipes apart from HerbsNone
Animal part
Divination/oracle/incantation		12
3
1		63.2
15.8
5.3
Source(s) of Knowledge Acquisition in
Herbal Treatment among Herb-sellers		Inheritance
Training
Inheritance and training
Other		4
8
5
2		21.1
42.1
26.3
10.5
Duration of Using Herbs in Treatment of
RHPs		2 – 3 weeks
3 – 5 weeks
5 – 12 weeks
>12 weeks		6
3
0
7		31.6
15.8
0
36.8
Accompanied Side Effects on the use of
Herbs in RHPs		None
Nausea/vomiting
Others		19100

Data Analysis

While the generated ethnographic data was analysed using content and literary and linguistic analysis of the selected Ifá verses, data generated from ethno-botanical survey were subjected to descriptive statistics. Some mathematical derivatives documented in literature were also used to analyse the data. Some of the quantitative derivatives include Fidelity Level (FL), Knowledge Value Index (KVI), Ethno-Medicinal Income Index (EI) and Name Homogeneity Index (NHI) as follows:

1) Fidelity Level (FL,) was used to quantify the percentage of respondents that claimed the use of a particular plant for the same major purpose FL = Np/n*100 Where Np is the number of respondents claiming a specific use for a plant and n is the total number of respondents using the plant for any purpose [10].

Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

2) Knowledge Value Index (KVI) was used to evaluate the level of knowledge of a particular plant and appraise the extent of awareness of ethno-medicinal plants among the population without special attention to names of plant species. KVI = ∑ A/n Where ‘A’ represents a respondent who is aware of the plant without necessarily knowing the plant by name, ‘n’ is the number of respondents interviewed. 3) Use Knowledge Index (UKI), analyses the level of novelty in local names not yet documented and appraises the continued use of plants in ethno-medicine. UK = ∑ U/K Where U is the respondent who used a particular plant and K is the respondent who knows the plant by name [11]. 4) Ethno-medicinal Income Index (EII) was used to quantify the relative ethno-medicinal economy of a local population based on local knowledge of plant use. EI = ∑ I/n Where ‘I’ represents a respondent who makes income from the sale of the plant and ‘n’ is the number of The nineteen respondents encountered during the market survey were all Yorùbás of different sub-ethnic groups with 78.9% practising Islam and 21.1% practising Christianity (Table 2). The population of the respondents was made up of majorly herb sellers (78.9%) and traditional medical practitioners (TMPs, 15.8%). They were of different age groups: 21-40 years (26.3%); 41-60 years (52.6%) and >60 (21.1%) with many years of experience in the practice of selling herbs in wholesale and retail. Data from the survey revealed that the herb sellers are well-experienced in handling different RHPs.

respondents who use this plant species for any given purpose. (v) Name Homogeneity Index (NHI) was used to quantify the variation in names used by respondents to describe a particular plant. NHI =Nh/n Where ‘Nh’ is the number of homogenous names given by respondents and ‘n’ is the total number of respondents who have a name for the plant.

Results

Demographic Characteristics of The Respondents

CategoryNumber of Respondents (N)%N
ProfessionsHerbalist--
ProfessionsHerb sellers1578.9
ProfessionsTraditional Medical Practitioner315.8
ProfessionsOthers15.26
Age (Years)1-20--
Age (Years)21-40526.3
Age (Years)41-601052.6
Age (Years)>60421.1
SexMale--
SexFemale19100
ReligionChristianity421.1
ReligionIslam1578.9
ReligionTraditional--

Table 3: Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents.

Sources of Ewé’fá and Mode of Treatment in Rhps

The herb sellers attest to the fact that most of the herbs presented for validation are used by Ifá priests. They are of the opinion that most of the herbs are sourced from the forests through farmers and hunters that deal in herbs sourcing. Herbs were also purchased from herbs collectors, who often harvest the herbs from the forest and brought to the town where they are sold to herb sellers in the market at wholesale or retail. Due to age long practice in sales of herbs, herb sellers also have the knowledge of the use of herbs in treatment of RHPs. Among the respondents who are herb sellers in Bode market, ten of the respondents (52.6%) treat RHPs regularly, six (31.6%) treat it irregularly, while three (15.8%) do not treat it at all. Twelve (63.2%) of the respondents do not use any other means of treatment for Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

RHPs other than herbs identified in Ifá verses. The source of respondents’ knowledge of herbal treatment was by inheritance from their old parents (21.1%), professional training (42.1), inheritance and training (26.3) and others, which include inspiration (10.5%). Duration of treatment of RHPs using Ewé’fá was said to be 2-3 weeks and >12 weeks by 31.6% and 36.1% of respondents, respectively. No side effect was reported to be associated with the use of any of the Ewé’fá recipes by any respondent (Table 3).

CategoryNumber of response (Nr)%Nr
Frequency of Treatment in RHPs among the Herb SellersRegular1052.6
Frequency of Treatment in RHPs among the Herb SellersIrregular631.6
Frequency of Treatment in RHPs among the Herb SellersNo treatment315.8
Use of Other Recipes apart from Herbs1263.2
Use of Other Recipes apart from HerbsAnimal part315.8
Use of Other Recipes apart from HerbsDivination/oracle/incantation15.3
Source(s) of Knowledge Acquisition in Herbal Treatment among Herb-sellersInheritance421.1
Source(s) of Knowledge Acquisition in Herbal Treatment among Herb-sellersTraining842.1
Source(s) of Knowledge Acquisition in Herbal Treatment among Herb-sellersInheritance and training526.3
Source(s) of Knowledge Acquisition in Herbal Treatment among Herb-sellersOther210.5
Duration of Using Herbs in Treatment of RHPs2 - 3 weeks631.6
Duration of Using Herbs in Treatment of RHPs3 - 5 weeks315.8
Duration of Using Herbs in Treatment of RHPs5 - 12 weeks00
Duration of Using Herbs in Treatment of RHPs>12 weeks736.8
Accompanied Side Effects on the use of Herbs in RHPsNoneNausea/vomitingOthers19100

Table 4: Treatment of Reproductive Health Problems among the Herb Sellers.

The thirty identified Ewé’fá (herbal recipes) are distributed across twenty angiosperm families. These are Euphorbiaceae family which had the highest number of plants (Euphorbia laterifolia, Jatropha curcas, J. gossypifolia and Mallotus oppositifolius) followed by Leguminosae having three plants namely Baphia nitida, Dioclea reflexa and Mimosa pudica. Other identified families are Annonaceae, Arecaceae and Sterculiaceae having two plants each. The remaining fifteen families had one plant each (Table 4). Eighteen of the plants amounting to 60% of the identified herbs were identified for use for reproductive health problems (Table 4). The enumeration of recipes is presented in Table 4 for selected categories of RHPs. The most common reproductive health related problems that were mentioned involving the use of Ewé’fá recipes include: post-coitus sperm release (ẹ̀dà) for which Cocos nucifera, Dioclea reflexa and Mimosa pudica were mentioned; Aphrodisiac for which Leea guineensis, Cola nitida and Cola gigantea were mentioned; womb cleanser for which Xylopia aethiopica and Securidata longepedunculata were mentioned, infertility/fertility for which Xylopia aethiopica, Mimosa pudica, Jatropha gossypifolia, Parquetina nigrescens, Securidaca longepedunculata, Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

Advances in Pharmacology and Clinical Trials

| S/ No. | Botanical names | Family | Local names | Knowledge of Use in RHPs (%) | Other local names | Specific RHPs which the Herbs are Used for | Method of preparation | Mode of administration | Use of plants in RHP |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | Berlinia grandiflora | Lamiaceae | Ewé ϕmú ϵsin | 47.4 | làálì ϵsin | Malaria, anthelmintic, infections, Fertility | Squeezing, boiling | Topical, Oral | Yes |
| 2 | Uraria picta | Euphorbiaceae | Ewe ʌlùpàidà | 10.5 | ʌlùpàidà or ʌpadà | Placenta praevia | - | - | Yes |
| 3 | Cola sp. | Sterculiaceae | Obì ifin | 36.8 | Obì àbàtà funfur | Aphrodisiac | - | - | Yes |
| 4 | Cola sp. | Sterculiaceae | Obì ipa | 26.3 | - | Aphrodisiac | - | - | No |
| 5 | Aframomum melegueta K. Schum | Zingiberaceae | ʈso ataare | 63.2 | - | Easy Delivery, womb healing and stomach pain. | Chewing, concoction | Oral | Yes |
| 6 | Allium ascalonicum L. | Amaryllidaceae | ʈlùbósà eléwé | 84.2 | - | Oka ori, pile, Malaria, Cough, Convulsion, Jewo, Jawo | Decoction | Topical | No |
| 7 | Baphia nitida Lodd. | Leguminosae | ʌyèrèðsùn | 26.3 | - | All reproductive ailments | - | - | No |
| 8 | Chrysophyllum albidum G. Don | Sapotaceae | ʈso ʈgbálùmò | 21.1 | - | Dizziness and easy delivery | - | - | No |
| 9 | Clerodendrum sp. | Lamiaceae | Ewé ɪsédun | 5.3 | Ewé ɔdúndún | Stroke | - | - | No |
| 10 | Cocos nucifera L. | Arecaceae | ʈgbɒn jífè | 63.2 | - | ʈdà, antimicrobial, treats all infants’ disease, breast infection, memory enhancer | Eating, | Oral, Topical | Yes |
| 11 | Corchorus olitorius L. | Malvaceae | Ewédú | 94.7 | - | Easy delivery | Squeezing leaf juice | Oral | Yes |
| 12 | Cyperus esculentus L. | Cyperaceae | ʈso ɪmumu | 0 | - | - | - | - | No |
| 13 | Dioclea reflexa Hook. f. | Leguminosae | ʈgbáárín | 31.6 | - | Safe delivery, stomach upset in children, ʈdà, Breast infection, Placenta removal | Roasting | Oral | Yes |
| 14 | Elaeis guineensis Jacq. | Arecaceae | Ewé imò ɔpè | 10.5 | - | Antimicrobial | - | - | No |
| 15 | Euphorbia laterifolia Schumach. | Euphorbiaceae | ʈnuòpiri or ʈnuòpiyè | 68.4 | - | Antimicrobial, skin infection, STI, Fibroid | Mix with black soap, use as powder | Topical | Yes |
| 16 | Jatropha curcas L. | Euphorbiaceae | Ewé Làpálàpà | 47.4 | - | Measles, pile, labour, ʈdà, prostate cancer | Leaf juice, leaf mix with black soap | Oral, topical | Yes |
| 17 | Jatropha gossypifolia L. | Euphorbiaceae | Egbò làpálàpà pupa | 31.6 | - | Fertility enhancement, pile, measles | Soaked in Palm-wine, combine | Oral | Yes |

pile

  • 18
  • Leea guineense G.
  • Don
  • Vitaceae
  • A ledò/Kokojì̀wà
  • Mallotus oppositifolius
  • (Geiseler) Müll.Arg.
  • Euphorbiaceae
  • Ewé òrokóró/ojú ẹ̀ja
  • 47.4
  • -
  • Antihelminthic, Fever, Selfprotection, worm expellant
  • 19
  • 20
  • Mammea africana
  • Sabine
  • Calophyllaceae
  • Ewé ologbomodu
  • 21.1
  • Òlójòngbòdú
  • Fever, UTI
  • Squeeze with little
  • 21
  • Mimosa pudica L.
  • Leguminosae
  • Patanmọ́̀
  • 31.6
  • infertility, E ̣̀dà, miscarriage
  • 22
  • Olyra latifolia L.
  • Poaceae
  • Ewé ì̀yèetu
  • 5.3
  • -
  • Babaalawo
  • -
  • -
  • No
  • Parquetina nigrescens (Afzel.)
  • Periplocaceae
  • Ewé ọ̀gbọ́̀
  • 78.9
  • -
  • Blood tonic, fever, infertility,
  • 23
  • Bullock
  • 24 Petivera alliacea L. Phytolacaceae
  • Egbò awogbaàrùn
  • 42.1
  • -
  • All ailments in RHPs.
  • -
  • -
  • Yes
  • 25
  • Piper guineense
  • Schumach & Thonn. Piperaceae
  • E so ì̀yèré
  • 47.4
  • -
  • Malaria, easy delivery,
  • Pseudocedrela
  • Meliaceae
  • E so igi ẹ̀mi
  • 36.8
  • -
  • Antimicrobial, Fever
  • Decoction, grind
  • 26 kotyschyi
  • (Schweinf.) Harms
  • Securidaca longepedunculata
  • 27
  • Polygalaceae
  • Egbò ì̀pẹ̀ta
  • 57.9
  • -
  • Fresen.
  • 28 Synedrella nodiflora
  • (L.) Gaertn.
  • Compositae
  • Ewé Apàwọ̀fà
  • 10.5 tanaposo
  • All treatment in RHPs
  • -
  • -
  • No
  • 29
  • Uvaria afzelii G. F.
  • Scott-Elliot
  • Annonaceae
  • Gbogbonì̀ṣ̀e
  • 52.6
  • -
  • Infertility, all purpose
  • -
  • -
  • Yes
  • 30
  • Xylopia aethiopica
  • (Dunal) A. Rich.
  • Annonaceae
  • E ̣̀rù
  • 68.4
  • -

Table 5: Angiosperm Categorization and Medicinal Relevance of Ewé’fá Recipes for RHPs.

Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

Knowledge of Value Index (KVI) of the Identified Ewé’fá

Quantitative evaluation of the survey data showed that Corchorus olitorius had the highest fidelity level (FL- 84.2%). Aframomum melegueta, Leea guineense and Mimosa pudica all had FL of 26.3% (Table 5). The knowledge value index (KVI) ranged from 0.0-0.95. A KVI of zero for any plant indicated that none of the respondents knew the plant, while at least about half of the respondents knew plants that had KVI of 0.47. Plants with KVI of 0.47-0.95 constituted 43.3%. The most popular plant was C. olitorius (KVI 0.95) and use knowledge index (UK) of 1.0 showing that all the respondents mentioned that the plant is used to ease delivery during labour. The next in rank to this was Allium ascalonicum (KVI 0.84) followed by Parquetina nigrescens (KVI 0.79). Most of the plants had high UK, while Chrysophyllum albidum had the lowest UK (0.25) indicating that only a quarter of the respondents used it. The value obtained (1.0) for ethno-medicinal income (EI) for all the plants except Cyperus esculentus showed that all of the respondents derived income from selling the plants. Most (80%) of the plants had homogeneity index of zero (NHI 0), indicating that most respondents did not give other names by which the plants are called. Table 1 further explicates on certain socio-cultural variables relating to the use of Ewé’fá in reproductive health problems among the herb sellers. The table explains the number of respondents using Ewé’fá as medicinal purpose and the respondents using a specific Ewé’fá for RHPs. It also enumerates the number of respondents using the local names of identified herbs and those who are not using local names among other variables.

S/NPlantsIndices measured
Fidelity Level
(FL=Np/n*100)		Knowledge
Value Index
(KVI=∑A/n)		Use knowledge
index (UK=∑U/K)		Ethno-medicinal
income index
(EI=∑I/n)		Name homogeneity
index (NHI=Nh/n)
1Berlinia grandiflora5.260.470.8910.09
2Uraria picta5.260.110.510.5
3Cola sp.10.530.370.7110
4Cola sp.10.530.26110
5Aframomum melegueta
K. Schum		26.320.630.8310
6Allium ascalonicum L.00.840.9410
7Baphia nitida Lodd.00.260.811
8Chrysophyllum albidum
G. Don		00.210.2510
9Clerodendrum sp.00.05111
10Cocos nucifera L.5.260.630.5810
11Corchorus olitorius L.84.210.95110
12Cyperus esculentus L.00000
13Dioclea reflexa Hook. f.15.790.320.6710
14Elaeis guineensis Jacq.00.110.510
15Euphorbia laterifolia
Schumach.		5.260.68110
16Jatropha curcas L.5.260.470.8911
17Jatropha gossypifolia L.00.320.8310
18Leea guineense G. Don26.320.320.8311
19Mallotus oppositifolius
(Geiseler) Müll.Arg.		00.47110
20Mammea africana
Sabine		00.21111
21Mimosa pudica L.26.320.320.8310
22Olyra latifolia L.00.05110
23Parquetina nigrescens15.790.79110

Table 6: Quantitative ethno-botanical analysis of respondents' information on Ewé’fá.

Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

(Afzel.) Bullock
24Petivera alliacea L.00.420.8810
25Piper guineense
Schumach & Thonn.		10.530.47110
26Pseudocedrela kotyschyi
(Schweinf.) Harms		00.37110
27Securidaca
longepedunculata
Fresen.		00.58110
28Synedrella nodiflora (L.)
Gaertn.		00.110.510
29Uvaria afzelii G. F. Scott-
Elliot		5.260.530.810
30Xylopia aethiopica
(Dunal) A. Rich.		5.260.680.9210

Table 7: Quantitative ethno-botanical analysis of respondents' information on Ewé’fá.

Generally healing in Ifá system involves spirituality and the use of herbs, where Ifá belief system influences the course of repairing the patient that is seeking healing. Treatment of reproductive health problems using Ifá healing system does not depart from general procedures in Ifá healing system. The patient is brought to Ifá priest (Babaláwo) who consulted Ifá divination to ascertain the illness affecting the patient. Consultation involves the use of Ifá instruments such as Ò ̣̀ pẹ̀lẹ̀ (divination chain) used to divine into the problems affecting the patient. The divination is revealed through Ifá verses that symbolically appear in the divination. Through the poetic chanting of the appearing verse, the Babaláwo deduces the illness and its severity. From the deduction too, the spiritual and herbal aspects of the illness are deciphered. Spiritual aspects explain the preternatural causes, and remedies, while the herbal aspect identifies the herbal recipes contained in the verses and narratives of how it was used in healing similar diseases in the past by Ọ̀̀ ̀rúnmì̀là. Babaláwo applies both spiritual and herbal knowledge in seeking remedies. The spiritual remedies involve sacrifices, appeasement to gods and deities and spiritual warnings against practices that were identified to have caused the illness on the patient.

Herbal remedies involve the identification of herbal recipes from the verses that appear in the divination, the collection of herbs and their preparation into herbal drugs. During the long time apprenticeship as Babaláwo, the master priest would have taught the apprentice how to decode the Ifá poetic verses and identification of herbs After the collection of the herbs, Babaláwo ensures that the correct herbs are collected and processing of herbs into drug follows. Babaláwo designates his trainees to prepare the herbs, giving them instructions. Herbs can be prepared into liquid forms by boiling the herbs and by squeezing out the juice contains in the herbs. It can also be grinded and mixed with local soap for bathing or mixed with local ointments of Shea butter for application. Babaláwo gives the drug to his patient giving the information about prescription and preservation. The use of herbal drug may last for days and weeks depending on the nature and severity of the ailments.

The use of Ewé’fá as herbal recipes in reproductive health problems is dominant among Ifá priests in Yorùbá society of south-western Nigeria. Both ethnographic observation and case study analysis suggest all Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

respondents who are Babaláwos (Ifá priests) engaging in reproductive health caring draw their healing knowledge from Ifá and engage the use of Ifá spirituality and herbal recipes in treatment. The knowledge of Ifá herbal healing is mostly drawn on the curative meaning given to a plant and beliefs associated with the healing potentials of herbs as contained in Ifá verses. This plays a significant role in the use and potency of herbal remedy in Ifá healing system. During case study analysis, seventeen patients that visited three different Ifá priests in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town on reproductive health problems were observed within two weeks. Reproductive health problems that were involved were low sperm count [5], weak erection [3], womb infection [3], pile [4] and prolonged female infertility [2]. All the patients admitted that they had undergone spiritual healing, which involved sacrifice to appease the gods or divinities that are associated with their illnesses.

They also affirmed that they were receiving herbal treatment made from Ewé’fá that were identified from Ifá divination that was consulted for them. All the three patients being treated on womb infection affirmed that their conditions had remarkably improved as they used the herbal soap made of local soap and Ewé’fá to wash their virginal and herbal mixture drank to disinfect their wombs within three days of treatment. They further stated that before they started the treatment with Ewé’fá, they experienced severe virginal hitching and bleeding, but since they started using the herbal drug the womb hitching had stopped and the bleeding had started to reduce remarkably. Patients with weak erection also affirmed improvement on their health status following the use of herbal drugs made from Ewé’fá. Òther reproductive health problems which Ifa herbal recipes were sought for solutions are listed in (Table 6).

RHPs categoryRecipeMethod preparation and Mode administration
Ṣ̀ọ̀múròrò
Breast infection		Cocos nucifera,Use the water in the C. nucifera fruit to wash the infected
breast
Dioclea reflexa-
E ̣̀dà
Post coitus sperm loss		Dioclea reflexa, Aframomum
melegueta		Blend the leaves of D. reflexa and use it to soup to be eaten.
Aframomum melegueta, Citus
aurantifolia, Mimosa pudica		Mix the juice of C. aurantifolia and the powder of A.
melegueta and leaves of Mimosa pudica together and drink
before breakfast
Cocos nucifera, Mimosa pudica,
Picralima nitida		Mix the water of C. nucifera fruit and powdered M. pudica
and P. nitida
Jatropha curcas, black soapDry and blend the fruit of jatropha curcas and mix with
black soap. Use the preparation to was the private part.
AphrodisiacCola sp., Cola sp.,
Leea guineenseGrind
Womb cleanserSecuridaca longepedunculata
Xylopia aethiopica,
FertilityParquetina nigrescensSqueeze the leaves and mix with milk. Take the
preparation orally.
Jatropha gossypifolia-
Worm Expeller
Easy delivery/Easy labourAframomum meleguetaChew the fruits
Corchorus olitoriusSqueeze or grind the leaves of C. olitorius with little
volume of water and drink or prepare the leaves as soup
without adding salt or any other condiments. Drink the
soup.
Chrysophyllum albidum, Vitex
doniana		Blend the seed of C. albidum and mix it with Vitex doniana.
Use the preparation to wash the private part of the
pregnant woman.
Piper guineensePrepare as soup to be eaten
Placenta removalAframomum melegueta, Dioclea
reflexa		Roast the fruits of A. melegueta and D. reflexa and use the
preparation to take pap.

Table 8: Use of Ewé’fá for treatment of selected reproductive health problems.

Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

Low sperm count
FrigidityLeea guineense
MiscarriageMimosa pudica

Table 9: Use of Ewé’fá for treatment of selected reproductive health problems.

Ifá scriptural verses are one of the sources of knowledge in Yorùbá herbal medicine. Since Ifá has to do with everyday encounter experienced by Ò ̣̀ rúnmì̀là, the founder and custodian of Ifá system and the most common encounter is dealing with health problems, Ifá verses contain the narratives of how Ò ̣̀ rúnmì̀là dealt with such health problems. While Ò ̣̀ rúnmì̀là later became one of the strongest Yorùbá spiritual deity associated with wisdom who is being worshipped today among the people, his system of healing enshrined in his poetic narratives has become an important system of healing among the Yorùbá. A Yorùbá mythology accounts that Ò ̣̀ rúnmì̀là’s one of closest allies was Ò ̣̀ sányì̀n who is regarded as god of medicine among the people. In their Ajì́rẹ̀mọ̀ Ajì́rẹ̀mọ̀ Asùnrẹ̀mọ̀ Asùnrẹ̀mọ̀ Arẹ̀mọ̀ Ò ̣̀ ṣ̀ẹ̀ṣ̀ẹ̀ Arẹ̀mọ̀ Ò ̣̀ ṣ̀ẹ̀ṣ̀ẹ̀ Ò ̣̀ ṣ̀ẹ̀ṣ̀ẹ̀̀ náà arẹ̀mọ̀ Ò ̣̀ ṣ̀ẹ̀ṣ̀ẹ̀̀ náà arẹ̀mọ̀ A wọ̀n ló ṣ̀’efá fún I yálóde òkè A pà They were the ones that cast divination for Iyalode oke Apa Nì́gbàtì́ n sunkún póun ò r’ọ́̀mó bì́ When she was crying for lack of Wọ́̀n nì́ Làpá ni yóó fi pa inú rẹ̀ dà tì́ yó sì̀ fi ṣ̀oyún They said it is lapa that she is going to use to up turn her stomach to be pregnant Ifá nì́ èèwọ̀ Ò rì̀ṣ̀à, àgbálùmo ̣̀ kì̀ì́ gbé’gàn kó yàgàn Ifa says it is forbidden, Chrysophyllum albidum will not live in the forest and be barren Kékeré àgbáárín kì̀ì́ gbé’lé ayé àì̀finú ṣ̀oyún. A young Dioclea reflexa does not live on earth without conception The above verses contain the following Ewé’fá: ewé Làpálàpá funfun (Jatropha curcas L.); Èso Àgbálùmo ̣̀ (Chrysophyllum albidum) and Èso Àgbáàrìn (Dioclea reflexa Hook. f.). Literary interpretation of the verses suggests that a woman called I yálóde who lived at Ò kè A pà, always cried for wanting of a child because she was barren. She decided to visit Ò ̣̀ rúnmì̀là who divined for her, and the divination revealed that she was going to have children if her womb is cleansed with Làpálàpá funfun (Jatropha curcas L.), since Àgbálùmo ̣̀ (Chrysophyllum albidum) would never exist in the forest without children and Àgbáàrín (Dioclea reflexa Hook. f.) would never live without being pregnant. The patient would have children like Ajì́rẹ̀mọ̀ and Asùnrẹ̀mọ̀ had their own children. Though Ifá verses existed in oral form, they are so popular among the Yorùbá to the extent that Ifá scholars (Ifá priests and practitioners) are both appreciated as clergies and spiritual healers.

Encoding herbal recipes in Ifá verses fulfils two functions. Firstly, since the knowledge of Ifá and its circulation is restricted to only the Ifá scholars, encoding of herbal recipes addresses the patenting of Yorùbá traditional medicinal knowledge and discovery. The esoteric linguistic structure and link with Yorùbá spirituality with which the Ifá knowledge is coded further protect its contents including herbal recipes from plagiarism and intellectual abuse. Thus, while its circulation is controlled, it is also not widely exposed to scientific exploration. Secondly, spirituality of Ifá and oral transmission further describe the system as a divine Copyright© Aderemi SA, et al.

sanctity and intellectual heritage among the Yorùbá of south-western Nigeria. The spiritual contents of Ifá further suggest that Yorùbá traditional healing encompasses treating illnesses with herbs to spiritual treatment [12]. Thus, as espoused in Ifá verses, traditional healing is holistic in its approach, (spiritual and physical treatments) which embodies the collective wisdom of indigenous knowledge that is orally handed down over many generations [13].

Yorùbá herbal healing further reinforces the medical perspective that every society develops its own cultural way of dealing with illnesses. Thus, according to Craffert [14], illness and health care systems in all societies whether traditional or western, are in one way or another determined by or closely connected to the culture or world-views of those societies. For example, the Chinese, native Americans, native Hawaiians, Australian Aborigines, Indians, Maori in New Zealand, indigenous Africans and many other indigenous peoples have their own specific methods and remedies for dealing with physiological, psychiatric and spiritual illnesses. To use Carl Jung’s concept, these could be regarded as part of the ‘collective unconsciouses of these societies [15]. Aspects of this collective unconscious tend to resurface in some few individuals in the form of traditional healers.

The form of Yorùbá herbal healing derived from Ifá scriptural verses remains so resilient and adaptive to current trends in illness and health caring especially within the context of reproductive health problems. With many of the reproductive health problems in Yorùbá society failing western scientific explanations, it provides opportunity for traditional healers who are spiritually inclined to devise different construction and aetiology about reproductive health problems beyond biological causation, but extending to preternatural and cultural causations, patronage of traditional herbal remedies have thus increased among the people. Conflicting with Christian and Islamic beliefs, which often seen Ifá healing system like other traditional healing system among the Yorùbá as devilish and satanic, the practice still command patronage mostly among the low income earners and high income earners that have tried western therapy without success [7].

In conclusion, this paper provides an insight on Yorùbá healing system as having different dimensions: the spiritual and the herbal therapeutic aspect otherwise referred to as herbal medicine. While the spiritual dimension deals with metaphysical issues, herbal or traditional medicine emphasizes the use of plants that have bioactive constituents for healing purposes. Òne of the belief systems of the Yorùbá people recognizes Ifá as a deity that embraces plants for healing purpose [1]. This is verifiable in many of the Ifá verses where plants and other non-plant materials were mentioned for healing. Ewé’fá commonly noted for healing Reproductive Health Problems (RHPs) were identified from the following Ifá verses: Èjìogbè, Ògúndábède, Ò yèkú -Méjì̀, Ògbè- Túrúpòn, I wòrì̀- Ò fún, Ò túrá-Méjì̀, I ká- Ò ̣̀ sẹ́̀ and Ò ̣̀ sá-Méjì̀. Thirty plants were identified from Ifá verses that are used for RHPs. The present study therefore seeks to document ethno-pharmacological uses of the 30 Ewé’fá among the Yorùbá of the south-western Nigeria and validate their uses for reproductive health problems. The results of this study provide the basis for further studies on the phyto- constituents and compounds responsible for the treatment of RHPs. The study plays an important role in documenting and conserving traditional knowledge of plants for future use.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the herb sellers of Bode central herb market in Ibadan, the Babaláwo interviewed in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town, the patients that were observed through case study analysis in Ò ̣̀ yọ́̀ town and all other informants who showed their willingness to share their knowledge on the use of medicinal plants in treating reproductive health problems.

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@article{aderemi2019,
  title   = {Validation of Ewefa as Herbal Recipes for Reproductive Health Problems (Rhps) among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria},
  author  = {Aderemi SA, Sonibare MA, Gbadamosi IT, Olaleye SK, Odeku O, Adegoke AO and Adejumo AG},
  journal = {Advances in Pharmacology & Clinical Trials},
  year    = {2019},
  volume  = {4},
  number  = {3},
  doi     = {10.23880/apct-16000167}
}
Aderemi SA, Sonibare MA, Gbadamosi IT, Olaleye SK, Odeku O, Adegoke AO and Adejumo AG (2019). Validation of Ewefa as Herbal Recipes for Reproductive Health Problems (Rhps) among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria. Advances in Pharmacology & Clinical Trials, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.23880/apct-16000167
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Validation of Ewefa as Herbal Recipes for Reproductive Health Problems (Rhps) among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria
AU  - Aderemi SA, Sonibare MA, Gbadamosi IT, Olaleye SK, Odeku O, Adegoke AO and Adejumo AG
JO  - Advances in Pharmacology & Clinical Trials
PY  - 2019
VL  - 4
IS  - 3
DO  - 10.23880/apct-16000167
ER  -