Malaria is one of the most serious health problems facing the developing world, killing between 1 and 3 million people every year. However, it is estimated that the situation will get worse, not only because of increasing parasite and mosquito resistance to available anti-malarial drugs and insecticides respectively, but also because of deteriorating socio-economical conditions in many malaria endemic areas.
It is imperative that a cheap and efficient malarial control strategy is developed favouring initiatives which provide quick, sustainable and available tools to impact on the malaria burden. Among them, traditional plant-based medicine, often inexpensive and available, has many potential advantages. Indeed, plants have been used as traditional remedies against malaria for generation upon generation and some of the most common pharmaceutical drugs are plant-based. Thus, in view of the advantages some plants have for the fight against malaria, it is crucial to fully investigate the importance of traditional medicine, its uses and its potential.

This is the aim of the scientific and documentary project we have started in Northern Tanzania and in Mali.