Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants used by the Nyambo and Haya people of Kyerwa district in northwestern Tanzania to treat urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) pose a substantial public health threat, affecting over 150 million people annually. The rising antimicrobial resistance against currently available medicines underscores the urgency of exploring alternative therapeutic avenues, especially traditional medicine which is part of indigenous and pluralistic medical systems. This study aimed to explore and document medicinal plants traditionally used by the Nyambo and Haya people to treat UTIs in the rural Kyerwa district, Tanzania. An ethnomedical survey was undertaken in the Kyerwa district within the Kagera region in northwestern Tanzania. Employing a purposive sampling technique, six prominent traditional healers from the Kyerwa district were interviewed for this study, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Additionally, a literature search was carried out to establish support for ethnomedical claims of the documented medicinal plants, gathering information from online search engines including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and ResearchGate, with input of keywords such as urinary tract infections, uropathogens, anti uropathogenic, antiurolithiatic, antibacterial, ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, ethnomedical, phytochemistry, and phytomedicine. A total of 22 plant species from 17 taxonomic families were documented. Plants from the family Asteraceae were most frequently reported, comprising 4 species (18.2%). Literature review revealed that most plants have similar ethnomedical claims elsewhere and exhibit anti-uropathogenic properties. Two plants, Ageratum conyzoides and Bambusa vulgaris not only exhibit anti-uropathogenic but also antiurolithiatic properties. However, literature reports on the toxicity of four plants A. conyzoides, B. pilosa, Jatropha curcas, and Vernonia. Lasiopus ; hence raises safety concerns. Notably, this is the first study to report the ethnomedical use of one plant, Podocarpus usambarensis , which has not been reported previously as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and lacks reported bio-activity data. Generally, the findings highlight the potential of the documented plants as effective antimicrobials, but caution is imperative to ensure their safety. Furthermore, the Kyerwa district harbors numerous medicinal plants yet to be explored, underlying the need for comprehensive studies, especially regarding P. usambarensis .