Ethnobotanical Survey on Medicinal Plants Used in Burkina Faso in the Treatment of Breast Cancer, Phytochemistry and Antioxidant Activities: Euphorbia poissonii Pax and Flueggea virosa (Willd.) Voigt. (Euphorbiaceae)

This study presents an ethnobotanical survey, a quantification of polyphenols and antioxidant activities on medicinal plants used in the treatment of breast cancer in the cities of Bobo-Dioulasso and Fada N'Gourma conducted among traditional practitioners. For this purpose, after the survey analyses, Euphorbia poissonii Pax (Euphorbiaceae) and Flueggea virosa (Willd.) Voigt. (Euphorbiaceae) were chosen. A methanolic extraction with soxhlet was performed on these plants. Then, the quantification of phenolic compounds was done by spectrophotometric method with Folin Ciocalteu reagent and aluminum chloride respectively. Likewise, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by three methods (ABTS, DPPH and FRAP). A total of 103 traditional practitioners were surveyed and 47 species divided into 27 families were obtained. Among the total extracts, the leaves of Flueggea virosa gave the highest content of total phenolics (52.05 ±1.49 mg EAG/100mg extract) and the root gave the highest content of flavonoids (3.30 ±0.32 EQ/100mg extract). The best antioxidant activity was observed at the ABTS method with best results obtained for the total extracts of Flueggea virosa (8413.78±110.16 μmol EAA/g). The results of the different phytochemical and antioxidant activities could partially justify the traditional use of these plants in the management of breast cancer patients.

Ethnobotanical survey on medicinal plants (Carica papaya L. and Agelanthus dodoneifolius (DC.) Polhill & Wiens) used in the treatment of Hepatitis in Burkina Faso, phytochemistry and antioxidant activity

Hepatitis are pathologies of various etiologies affecting millions persons and the management by modern medicines still faces many difficulties. Our study aimed to make a repertory of medicinal plants used in the treatment of hepatitis in the Urbans areas of Bobo-Dioulasso, Dédougou and Fada N'Gourma followed by the phytochemical quantification and antioxidant activity of the most cited ones. We conducted an ethnobotanical survey among traditional Heath practitioners in the three studied locations to achieve this objective. Methanolic extracts of the plant organs were obtained using an extractor apparatus. Polyphenolic compounds contents quantification was done by spectrophotometry using Follin-Ciocalteu reagent and aluminum trichloride. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by three methods (ABTS●+, DPPH●, FRAP) and the reading of optical densities was performed with the spectrophotometer. A total of, 101 traditional healers were interviewed and 52 species were inventoried as being used in hepatitis care in the three localities. Among the species regularly cited in the different localities were Carica papaya (8%) and Agelanthus dodoneifolius (13%), and these two species were selected for the further investigation. Among the parts of plants most used there are roots (45%). Phytochemical investigations of C. papaya and A. dodoneifolius revealed that the best polyphenolic compound content was obtained by the unripe seeds of C. papaya with respectively 14.06±0.68 mg EAG and 4.37±0.57 mg EQ for 100 mg of extract. A. dodoneifolius extract was given the best antioxidant activity on ABTS●+ radical inhibition method with 9279.19±416.37 µmol EAA/g. All these activities could partially justify the use of screened species in the traditional treatment of hepatitis.

URBAN CITIES AND WASTE GENERATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A GIS EVALUATION OF TWO CITIES IN BURKINA FASO

Cities in developing countries are faced waste management challenges in terms of quantity and quality. Most of the time, solid and liquid wastes are dumped on street and open spaces. Uncontrolled waste dumped has led to diverse kind of health problems. The purpose of this article is to characterize urban cities and evaluate their waste generation using the Geographical Information System (GIS). The focus is on two cities in Burkina Faso. Specific variables which were considered during the survey include urban fabric, grey water outlets and household garbage dumps sites/techniques. The study shows that in the two cities, the most dominant urban fabric is low standard of living (about 64% of housing in Fada and 62% of housing in Pouytenga). The urban fabric is also characterized by the existence of empty spaces. Overall, the average density of grey water discharge points is 0.85 points and 5.7 points per ha of street in Fada N’Gourma and Pouytenga respectively. The average density of solid waste dumps is 1.45 waste dumps per ha street and 7 waste dumps per ha street in Fada N'Gourma and Pouytenga respectively. In case of urgent waste management intervention, the priority areas for speedy intervention are area 10 in Fada N’Gourma, areas 2 and 5 in Pouytenga. GIS applied to waste management can be a decision making tool for urban planners in developing country.

Application of the material flow analysis method for evaluating Strategic Sanitation Plan in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Fada N'Gourma–Burkina Faso

In the context of rapid urbanization across Sub-Saharan Africa there is a critical need for more robust decision-making between different ways of providing sanitation services in existing and new peri-urban areas. In several countries, authorities tried to find solutions by developing strategies to address sanitation problems in the form of Strategic Sanitation Plans. In Burkina, Strategic Sanitation Plans have been elaborated and implemented since the 1990s. Fada N'Gourma, a secondary city in Burkina, also adopted a Strategic Plan for wastewater and excreta management in 2006. In this study we use material flow analysis as a decision making tool to verify technology options of the Plan. A model was developed and data was collected in order to assess material and nitrogen flows. The status quo situation was compared to scenario based on the proposals made in the Sanitation Plan. Results show that the technology options which were recommended improved human health in the short term. However, the options led to groundwater pollution in the medium term. Compared to the current situation, matter and nitrogen flows would increase by 7% and 7.4% respectively in groundwater. It is thus concluded that the proposed options will not achieve the Plan's stated objectives of environmental protection.

Archival Documents on Upper Volta: Here, There, and Everywhere

Fluctuations of colonial policies toward territorial integrity were not without effects, first on the people of these colonies and then on the organization of their own administration. A case in point is the tortuous history of colonial administration in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). Created in 1919 out of the oversized Haut-Sénégal-Niger—which extended from the Sénégal river to lake Chad—in order to rationalize the administration Upper Volta survived as an autonomous colony until January 1933, when it was officially dismembered. The northwestern part (i.e., Ouahigouya) was ceded to the French Sudan, the central and southwestern regions (Mosi and Bobo) to Côte d'Ivoire, and a small portion of the eastern portion (Fada N'Gourma) to Niger. After harsh negotiations the colony of Upper Volta was recreated in 1947. Researchers who have worked on this part of the French empire know that every adjustment brought to the administrative arrangement also caused personnel and documents to be displaced to the new centers—Abidjan, Niamey, or Bamako.This institutional constraint on the organization of complete sets of archival documents for the study of the region's past has been strengthened by a well-known post-independence symptom: bureaucratic plethora. Indeed Burkina Faso is probably the only country in the world to possess more archivists than organized archives. The Direction des archives, with its dozen archivists in the 1980s, had not produced a single inventory of what could be found in the capital (Ouagadougou) or in the regions, although important work had been done by individual archivists appointed to specific Ministries or by expatriate researchers.