Data on medicinal plants used by herbalists for boosting immunity in people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Godwin Anywar; Esezah Kakudidi; Robert Byamukama; Jackson Mukonzo; Andreas Schubert; Hannington Oryem-Origa

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2019.105097

Data on medicinal plants used by herbalists for boosting immunity in people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Data Brief. 2020 Jan 8:29:105097. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2019.105097. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Authors

Godwin Anywar^{1

2}, Esezah Kakudidi¹, Robert Byamukama³, Jackson Mukonzo⁴, Andreas Schubert², Hannington Oryem-Origa¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology & Biotechnology, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
² Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy & Immunology (IZI), Perlickstraße 104103, Leipzig, Germany.
³ Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.

Abstract

This Data in Brief article provides supplementary information to or earlier Ethnobotanical survey on medicinal plants used by traditional medicine practitioners to boost the immune system in people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda [1]. We identified 71 medicinal plant species from 37 families and 64 genera. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Most of the plant species used were trees (27) and herbs (25) from the Fabaceae (15.7%) Asteraceae Phyllanthaceae (8.6%), Rubiaceae (5.7%) and Rubiaceae (5.7%) families. Additionally, we conducted a detailed literature review of the documented species to justify their use as immunostimulants. This data is derived from a larger survey to document the use of medicinal plant species in treating opportunistic infections in Uganda by Anywar et al. [2].

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Herbalists; Immunity; Immunostimulants; Medicinal plants; Traditional medicine practitioners.