ABSTRACT
The continued reliance of contemporary indigenous populations on plant medicines warrants close scrutiny of those species for pharmacological action, adverse interactions (e.g., with pharmaceuticals), and long-term toxicity.* In view of the growing rate of drug and pesticide resistance among plasmodia and anophelines, respectively, these plants may eventually contribute as well to antimalarial drug discovery and the development of more effective mosquito repellents and antibreeding
agents. Over the shorter term, these plants can also continue to play a role in primary health care and insect management, especially where pharmaceuticals and other biomedical technology is not available on a sustainable basis. We argue that the ethnopharmacological/ethnobotanical* approach is the best means to explore these plants.
