Traditional Medicinal Plant Knowledge for Malaria Management in Cameroon's Tropical Forest Zone: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation and Community Health

Malaria remains the most prevalent endemic disease in Cameroon, with the highest incidence recorded in the East Region, a zone characterised by dense tropical rainforest and communities that depend substantially on forest-based medicinal resources for primary healthcare. This article examines how the Baka and Bantu communities of the East Region of Cameroon produce, transmit, and apply traditional medicinal plant knowledge in the management of malaria, locally known as “Diwo'o” among the Baka. Drawing on approximately 65 semi-structured interviews and 10 focus group discussions conducted across health districts in Abong-Mbang and Yokadouma between April 2024 and May 2025, the study employs the Research, Integration, Utilisation (RIU) framework to analyse systemic barriers to knowledge integration and power dynamics between state health governance and indigenous healing structures. Findings reveal a sophisticated ethnobotanical pharmacopoeia involving species such as Lomboh, Bamboh, Epoue and Gouga, transmitted through intergenerational oral learning and legitimised through ancestral and spiritual authority. Despite demonstrable community efficacy and growing pharmacological evidence, traditional knowledge is systematically marginalised by bureaucratic exclusion, conservation enclosures, and the absence of standardised clinical validation pathways. The article argues for inclusive governance frameworks that bridge traditional and biomedical knowledge systems, drawing on the Nagoya Protocol to ensure benefit sharing, and proposes co-production platforms that can advance community health security while conserving the forest biodiversity underpinning these healing systems.