Unité d’Écodéveloppement, Ethnobiologie et Savoirs endogènes, Département des Sciences de l’Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, RD Congo
The majority of the population in Africa resort to traditional medicine to solve the problem of health. The present study, an ethno-botanical survey, was carried out with 70 sellers of medicinal plants anti-diabetic and 30 traditional healers in two townships Kimbaseke et Selembao in city of Kinshasa according to principles included in the declaration of Helsink. Her goal is to promote the traditional ecological knowledge. The ethno-botanical data collected were then supplemented by information concerning the plant ecological types. The results from this study revealed that 21 species belonging 19 genera and 15 families were inventoried in the medicinal flora for treatment of diabetes. The 15 families are dominated by Rubiaceae with three species. The sale and use of the medicinal plant species is a current practice among the age ranging from 22 to 67 years with prevalence at the old people of 51 years and over with predominantly male activity. the barks and leaves are the parts most used by traditional healers and therefore the most sold. The infusion is the most used process. It is important to take conservation measures in order to revalorizing and preserving/using them for sustainable development according to the convention on biological diversity. It is desirable that advanced phytochemical and pharmacological studies are carried out on the two plant species for the scientific validation of their bioactivity, for conversion of the traditional knowledge into scientific culture according to the convention on biological diversity.