Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part A (2024)

The prevalence of neuropathic pain is 6.3% in Benin. In developing African countries, medical management of neuropathic pain (ND) is limited by the inaccessibility of some populations to health centers and the high cost of conventional medicine drugs. Among the available solutions, the easiest for developing countries like Benin is the use of medicinal plants. That is why we have initiated this ethnobotany study, to provide an exhaustive list of plants used in the south of Benin in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
This was an observational, transversal, descriptive and analytical study conducted over a period from October to December 2020. The collection technique was the ATRM (Purchase by Triplet of Medicinal Recipes). It focused on herbalists with a rich display in one of the Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi markets. The data were collected by means of a digitized questionnaire via kobocollect. 
A total of 30 herbalists were included with female predominance (96.7%). The study identified 106 species from 78 different families. Of the species surveyed, 37 were reported by herbalists with an average knowledge score on neuropathic pain of 34.91%, and 12 were selected as useful based on the relative frequency of citation and the contribution of each species to the revenue mix. The Preferred administration was oral (98.0%) and plants were taken as herbal tea by decoction (94.1%). Leaves were 28.0% the most used parts. The respondents in our study have an average knowledge of the plants used in the treatment of neuropathic pain. Further studies on the phytochemical composition of these plants should be carried out; the most disadvantaged populations will then be able to benefit from efficient and safe local products.