An ethnomedicinal appraisal of the Kurram Agency, tribal area, Pakistan

Abstract

The present work was conducted at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the agency of Kurram (33° 49' 07'' N and 70° 10' 24'' E), an administrative part of the late federally administered tribal area (FATA) of Pakistan. Aim of the study was to document the medicinal flora based on local information, i.e., local classification, part used, drug preparation and dosage. Ethnomedicinal data was obtained through semi structured interviews after obtaining the respondents prior informed consent. During field visits 72 people were interviewed 150 plant species belonging to 131 genera in 86 families were documented. The documented plants were found to be effective for 64 disorders, from simple to complicated health issues. In a quantitative analysis, 31 plant species showed fidelity level ranges from 33-100% and relative frequency of citation from 0.03 to 0.28. Conservation issues related to plant use need to be investigated.