Malaria parasites And Traditional medicinal plants: Severe malaria is caused by P.falciparum infection. Natural products have been important sources of antimalarial agent

Malaria statistics have become familiar. It is estimated that 300 to 500 million malaria infections occur annually, 90% of these in sub-Sahara Africa. A third of those visiting rural dispensaries are seeking treatment for malaria. Malaria accounts for between 20 and 50% of all admissions in African health services, with the poorest countries bearing the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality. Studies in a number of African countries have shown that the emergence of the chloroquine-resistant malaria parasites is associated with a two-fold increase in malaria deaths, but in one study in Mlomp Senegal, it was shown that malaria mortality in children under the age of four increased 11-fold within six years of the emergence of the chloroquine-resistance. The emergence of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum has resulted in an urgent need to develop new antimalarial chemotherapeutic agents. Hence, the research for new drugs against this disease has become a pressing, global demand.