Traditional health care of male infertility in bansoa, west Cameroon

In the Bamiléké country (Northwest and West regions of Cameroon), the social core is the matrilinear group, which is composed of the descendants of the maternal family on 4 generations. The family permanence is assured by marriage, monogamous or polygamous. Male infertility appears as a situation of decay associated with various social-related harms. We investigated the traditional medicines that cure male infertility and the resulting harms, taking into account the implicated factors. The register of a hospital centre service was consulted, and semi-structured qualitative and quantitative interviews were conducted with patients and traditional healers enrolled in the treatment of infertility in Bansoa. The spermograms from the hospital centre showed the different anomalies related to secretory barrenness, single or associated asthenospermia and oligospermia, which reach some strong percentages (17.6% and 13.2% respectively). The semen was normal in only 23.2% of the cases studied. The pattern for this study was constituted of 34 sick interviewees among whom 48% were treated. The main pathological antecedents known were venereal diseases, 25%, Cryptorchidy and mumps, 12.5 % for each. Element use reports from 31 informants yielded 28 medicinal plant preparations and 3 not plant recipes, which are used to treat 17 different reproductive health disorders, ranging from general symptoms (venereal diseases , body pain from mumps, varicocele) to more specific ailments, such as oligospermia and asthenospermia. Twenty-one traditional healers indicated 34 species belonging to 32 genera and entering into the composition of 24 botanical families that are used to treat different anomalies related to masculine infertilities. The quoted family is the Asteraceae (4 species), the most used species being Citrus aurantiifolia Piptadeniastrum africanum and Vernonia. Many non-plants elements are also used by traditional healers: egg, .honey, rock salt and terracotta. Furthermore, traditional health care takes into account curse and witchcraft, which are particularly relevant within the local cultural context. Oligospermia appeared to be the most frequent anomaly in masculine barrenness. Efficient preparation was made using plants and non-plants ingredients. 48% of the patients were healed in compliance with the cultural perceptions of health conditions and the socio-economic aspects of health care.