Requirements Engineering for Digitizing Traditional Medical Knowledge: The Case of Building Phytomedicine Mobile-Web Application in Tanzania
Abstract
The digitization of traditional medical knowledge in Tanzania will greatly enhance its preservation and dissemination. This is especially important given the challenges facing the current methods of preserving and managing such knowledge. This study presents the requirements engineering approaches and requirements for a web-mobile application that would successfully digitize indigenous knowledge of phytomedicine and relevant practitioners licensing and registration processes. To establish the requirements of such a digital system application, the study sought the opinion of 224 stakeholders whose suggestions were used to analyze and model the requirements for designing such a web-mobile tool. The study was carried out in Arusha, Kagera and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania which involved ethnobotanical researchers, herb practitioners, curators from herbaria and registrar officers from Traditional and Alternatives Health Practice Council. Structured interview, survey, observation and document review were employed to find out the basic functional and non-functional requirements for possible designing and implementation a web-mobile application that would digitize indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants. The requirements were modelled using the use case and context diagrams. Finally, the study came up with a list of items for both functional and non-functional requirements that can be used as guidelines to develop a web-mobile application that will capture and document traditional medical knowledge of medicinal plants in Tanzania and, enabling relevant authorities to regulate and manage stakeholders.
Keywords:
Requirements Engineering, Functional Requirements, Non-functional Requirements, Indigenous Knowledge, Traditional Medical Knowledge, Traditional Medicine1. Introduction
World Health Organization (WHO) describes traditional medicine as the knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences of different cultures, used in maintaining and preventing the health, diagnosing, improving or treating physical and mental illness. When such practices make use of plant materials it is known as phytomedicine and such knowledge is referred to as traditional medical knowledge (TMK) (Anyaoku, Nwafor-Orizu, & Eneh, 2015; Liwa, et al., 2017; Mahomoodally, 2013). Traditional medicine is used widely in most developing countries as a major source for health care. Majority (80%) of the population from Africa, Asia and Latin American countries practice traditional medicine either independently or simultaneously with other conventional approaches (Haouari et al., 2018; Mahomoodally, 2013).Traditionally, TMK is preserved and passed on orally to subsequent generations. However, TMK has been lost gradually due to inability of the current methods and approaches used for preserving and maintaining it (Kayombo, Mahunnah, & Uiso, 2013).
The government of Tanzania adopted and recognized traditional medicine as an alternative treatment through its Traditional and Alternative Medicines Act of 2002 (The United Republic of Tanzania, 2002) in order to ensure safety among the stakeholders. The adoption involved the creation of Traditional and Alternative Health Practices Council (TAHPC) that is tasked with the responsibility of controlling and regulating traditional medicine practices and traditional medical practitioners (TMPs). Regulation process by the council involves issuance of premise licenses for such practices. However, these activities and processes are done manually hence making the process slow and hard to keep track and retrieve the stored information.
There has been a need for documenting TMK with the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) so as to prevent and minimize its extinction and disseminate it to stakeholders who recognize and use traditional medicine (Koumpouros & Birbas, 2013). However, any kind of software that could be developed to satisfy such existing need, will have to meet the system requirements that include unambiguity, compatibility, correctness and completeness. Moreover, the software should achieve the intended goals since the accomplishment and success of any developed software is evaluated in terms of client’s satisfaction (Pandey & Pandey, 2012).
Software development life cycle (SDLC) is an approach that employ phases to the systems development include planning, analyzing, designing, implementation and maintaining it (Kendall & Kendall, 2013). In this case, requirements engineering (RE), which is analysis phase, is believed to be the most important phase in the entire SDLC. This is because, any error produced can be detected at this stage as far as fulfilment of the business or user requirements are concerned (Matyokurehwa, Mavetera, & Jokonya, 2017). Therefore, RE refers to the systematic approach of generating and managing both functional and constraints requirements from clients input regarding their needs (Levy, Hadar, & Aviv, 2019). It comprises all processes, approaches and technics that are employed to acquire requirements for developing specific software. It encompasses four high-level activities: (1) the assessment of the usefulness of the system (feasibility study), (2) discovering the requirements in the real world (requirements gathering), (3) defining requirements in a standard form (specification), and (4) confirmation of whether the requirements are meeting the clients’ needs (validation) (Sommerville, 2011).
This study explores and presents both basic functional and non-functional requirements that can be adopted by software engineers to develop a web-mobile application platform for digitizing TMK and integration of a module for TMPs registration and licensing in Tanzania. The study also presents the approaches used during determination of the relevant requirements. To achieve the objectives of this study, the following research questions were formulated:
- ∙ RQ1. What are the preliminary functional and non-functional requirements for developing a digital application platform for TMK in Tanzania?
- ∙ RQ2. What are the suitable approaches that could enhance requirements elicitation, analysis and modelling for digitizing TMK?
- ∙ RQ3. How could the elicited requirements be improved to meet stakeholders’ needs?
2. Literature Review
2.1 Medicinal Plants in Developing Countries
Traditional medicine has been used by many indigenous people since ancient times and still finds application in health sector and modern medical practices (Yuan et al., 2016). The knowledge about traditional medicine is stored in the mind of individuals but such knowledge disappears under the passage of generations. Death, lack of learning interest by subsequent younger generation, memory loss by current knowledge holders due to ageing, are the contributing factors towards the loss of TMK (Kayombo, Mahunnah, & Uiso, 2013).
Medicinal plants are the most common traditional medicine in developing countries. Indeed such medicine has become popular in the prevention and treatment of both human and animal diseases (Ozioma & Chinwe, 2019). Nearly 70-85% of healthcare of the people from Tanzania and other countries in Africa are dependent on traditional medicine (Liwa et al., 2017; Antwi-Baffour et al., 2014). Research reports show that about 25-30% of modern drugs are the by-products of medicinal plants which stand to be the main future source of modern medicines (Kayombo, Mahunnah, & Uiso, 2013; Shakya, 2016; World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, 2012). Moreover, traditional medicine can be exploited for possible commercialization by knowledge owners (Abbott, 2014). It is due to this great role played by medicinal plants that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization encourages safeguarding of TMK by documentation for development, use and maintenance by present and future generation (UNESCO, 2003).
Considering the potential role played by traditional medicine in the health system of the people, some developing countries have enacted laws and established councils while others have passed bills to regulate the use of such medicine and relevant practitioners (Government of Zambia, 2016; Harrington & Harrington, 2018; Ministrary of Health, Ghana, n.d.; The United Republic of Tanzania, 2002). Such regulatory laws seem to be similar in these countries, where at least each country has well defined practice of complementary medicine and relevant councils that work to regulate the use of the medicine and traditional practitioners. Indeed, it is encouraging to see efforts of regulating the use of traditional medicine by countries to ensure people’s safety. However, the challenge still remains on the preservation of such useful knowledge which is at risk of gradual extinction due to the current methods that are used in preserving such knowledge.
2.2 The Role of Requirements Engineering in Software Development
Requirements engineering is a systematic approach that involve elicitation, analysis and documentation of requirements for developing any software (Pandey & Pandey, 2012). Goals of developing any software can be achieved if the resultant software developed satisfies clients’ needs. Requirements engineering involves four activities at a high level which include feasibility study, requirements gathering, specification and validation (Wu et al., 2016).
In software development, requirements engineering is vital as it assists the systems analyst to discover the requirements in the early stages. In case the requirements are not identified in time, the system will result into defects that will prove costly in the process of fixing them (Chakraborty et al., 2012). Rightly defined requirements help to prevent and minimize errors that can occur due to requirement failure. Therefore, requirements engineering reduces risks in the entire process of software development and improves the quality of developed software (More, Sapre, & Chawan, 2011). Moreover, whenever a software system is developed, both of its functional and non-functional requirements must be well assessed to ensure that the system works to meet users’ expectations. Functional Requirements (FR) refers to the services offered by a system while nonfunctional requirements (NFR) are the constraints under which a certain system should operate and both FR and NFR are essential in the implementation of any software (Becker et al., 2019). Example of functional requirements include report viewing and printing while privacy, reliability, capacity and usability are examples of non-functional requirements.
2.3 Related Works
Digitization of Traditional knowledge has been done in India where a digital library referred to as Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) was developed to document traditional knowledge of medicine by the local communities in India and to protect such knowledge from bio-piracy (Nadkarni & Rajam, 2016). Although TKDL is a web-based application, studies indicate that TKDL captured knowledge that were already documented on books. Additionally, TKDL has no feature for managing practitioners thus the world intellectual property (WIPO) only proposes it to be used as a model due to variation of requirements for each specific country. A similar mobile application was developed in Indonesia that was essentially meant to meet the relevant requirements for the people in the country (Hidayat et al., 2016).
In China, a study was conducted to integrate different databases that would store information about traditional Chinese medicine by developing a tool known as Traditional Chinese Medicine Integrated Database (Xue et al., 2012). The idea of integrating these databases was influenced by its inconsistency in handling those data. However, the requirements captured were insufficient in handling traditional or indigenous knowledge since they were based on herb ingredients and the corresponding diseases, they treat in which traditional knowledge about such plant was not clearly defined. Furthermore, a study aimed as analyzing user requirements for developing a web portal for herbaria data management was conducted in Belgium but it was based on only taxonomic information rather than indigenous knowledge (Vissers et al., 2017). Most of the studies that have been done on the requirements engineering for TMK digital systems are localized none of them described the requirements for managing practitioner’s registration processes by the relevant authorities.
3. Methodology
3.1 Study Area and Sample Size
To establish the initial requirements for a digital tool that should be built to satisfy the needs of traditional medicine stakeholders, the study involved three phases which were feasibility study, elicitation and analysis, requirements specification and documentation for collecting primary data while secondary data were obtained from the National Herbarium of Tanzania (NHT). The study was conducted in Arusha, Kagera and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania involving 156 herb practitioners, 60 ethnobotanical researchers making up a total of 216 respondents who participated in a survey. Structured face to face interview involved 6 curators and 2 practitioner registrars from Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDEC).
Researchers and curators involved in this study were from the Institute of Traditional Medicine (ITM), NHT and the herbarium of the University of Dar es salaam. Practitioners were from the Kagera and Arusha regions that are well known in the practice of traditional medicine by Tanzanian local communities (Moshi et al., 2010; Stanifer et al., 2015). The functional requirements established, were represented with use case and context diagrams to illustrate the interaction between the proposed system and its users, and the data flow respectively.
3.2 Requirements Engineering Process
To examine the usefulness of the proposed web-mobile application for managing TMK and stakeholders, a feasibility study was carried out using questionnaire. The intended collected information during the survey was meant to establish the perception of ethnobotanical researchers and practitioners towards the adoption and practice of ICTs in documenting TMK and auto-registration of practitioners by the government authorities.
User requirements for implementing a web-mobile application tool that suits traditional medicine stakeholders needs were discovered form ethnobotanical researchers, practitioners, curators and TAHPC registrar. Interview guide and questionnaires were administered to gather the requirements while observation and document review were employed in collecting the needed information in the field of traditional medicine. Researchers and practitioners participated in a survey while an interview was administered to curators and practitioners registrar. The gathered requirements were sorted and classified into clusters of functional and non-functional requirements.
The user requirements were categorized into sub-system menus such as user management, plant management, indigenous knowledge, knowledge source, literature and practitioner’s management menu. A software requirements specification (SRS) document for both functional and non-functional requirements was produced.
3.3 Study limitation and ethical consideration
This study was authorized and approved by NM-AIST and MoHCDEC to be carried out. During data collection, participants were informed about the objective of the survey and their consent to be involved in the study was sought. Researchers and practitioners that participated in data collection were ethnobotanical researchers and herbalists.
4. Results
4.1 Feasibility report
Table 1 shows the findings on feasibility study, 74.5% of two hundred and sixteen (216) respondents, indicated that there is a need for a digital tool to document and maintain maintaining TMK. Additionally, more than three-third (84.5%) responded that ICT tools are crucial in the practice of traditional medicine. Majority (82.41%) and 73.34% suggested that using digital systems can minimize the loss of TMK and TMPs registration can be improved.
User’s opinions toward the use of digital tool in TMK management
4.2 User Requirements
Stakeholders who participated in the study suggested a number of features they would wish to see in an application that would manage TMK and stakeholders. They indicated that the application should execute various functions that include capturing and documenting information on TMK and enables license application process by practitioners. Other requirements were obtained through observation and document review. The proposed requirements can be further improved during the implementation of such an application by employing evolutionary prototyping model which involve user feedback. Table 2 and Table 3 indicate the proposed user requirements as suggested by the stakeholders.
User requirements acquired through survey
User requirements acquired from curators and TAHPC registrar officers through interview
4.3 Requirements Modelling
Although use cases diagram are not robust in the discovery of domain requirements and constraints to which the system should operate, it's more effective in process eliciting and modelling functional requirements for developing any software (Sommerville, 2011).
Use case diagram are used to represent user’s interaction with the system based on the requirements specifications of the tool. Fig. 1 is a use case diagram showing how users interact with the tool. The use case had a number of actors who directly interacted with the system i.e. Admin, researcher, curator, traditional Medical practitioner, TAHPC registrar, district executive director, regional medical officer and the public. The description of each use case is given in Table 4.
A use case model for TMK web-mobile application
The Description of the Use Case for web-mobile application based on the functional requirements
4.4 Functional Requirements Specification
Both user and system requirements for TMK web-mobile application are integrated together in a single description table as shown in Table 5. The description contains the requirement features and specific functional requirements based on each system requirement.
User and System requirements specification
4.5 A Proposed Structure of Traditional Knowledge on Medicinal Plants
Based on the user requirements specified, the structure of the TMK management information system was proposed and modelled. It contains medicinal plant information to be captured in the digital tool. The proposed structure of TMK data would be divided into four parts as indicated in Fig. 2. The structure contains traditional knowledge, knowledge sources, scientific information and literature on certain specific medicinal plant.
A structure for TMK information of medicinal plants
4.6 Types of information on traditional medicinal plants
Information on traditional knowledge of medicinal plants that are collected and preserved in the herbarium and those from clients were used to model the structure presented in Fig. 2 and the data types for TMK structure are indicated in Table 6. Traditional knowledge information contains key data items that show the indigenous knowledge about a certain herb, knowledge sources are the information that indicate the origins of such data. Scientific details and literature information show taxonomic information and the corresponding research publications respectively. Table 7 shows an actual example of medicinal plant information as modelled in the structure (see Fig. 2).
Data types for Traditional Medical Knowledge
Actual example of medicinal plant information
4.7 Non-Functional Requirements
Every system operates under certain limitations referred to as non-functional requirements that describe how the application should work and behave. Table 8 indicates constrains under which a web-mobile for TMK stakeholders should operate.
A List of Non-functional Requirements
4.8 Data Flow Modelling
A data flow Modelling is a graphical representation of data exchange between information systems or proceeding elements (Pandey & Pandey, 2012). In this study, the data flow in the proposed TMK management information system was modelled using a context diagram (see Fig. 3) which shows an overview of the how data should flow from the system to its external entity based on inputs and outputs.
A context diagram for a proposed TMK web-mobile tool adapted from (Beebwa et al., 2019)
5. Discussion
Information Management with the use of ICTs has massively increased with Technology evolution. ICTs functionalities are highlighted in storage retrieval and dissemination of such information. For instance, available information in herbaria, library and archives, need to be preserved and disseminated to the stakeholders using digital systems. Digital tools for managing information can be highly achieved with well-designed and conducted requirements engineering. In software development, client’s needs have to be met to ensure fulfilment of the intent of developing such a software and customer’s satisfaction measures the functional and non-functional requirement aspects of it. Software projects may fail if they do not comply with the client’s needs due to poorly defined requirements (Gowtham et al., 2017). Clearly defined requirements provide a picture to systems analysts and programmers of what kind of software should be built and what kind of features should be included to meet the intended stakeholder’s needs.
Traditional medicine practitioners are among the stakeholders that could need the application of ICT tools to enable them preserve and disseminate relevant information related to the practice of traditional medicine in health care delivery. This is mainly because of the myriad drawbacks characterizing the current methods and approaches used in preserving existing information on TMK. Much of this information in various communities, is stored and held in the memory of the older generations who oftentimes pass it to younger generations. Such information stand the danger of being lost under the passage of generations as those who own it ether grow older, senile and incapable of communicating whatever information they know or incase the younger generation fail to take up the information due to lack of interest or change of social-economic trends that compel the youths of the day to move away from their birth places. Many countries especially in East Africa where traditional medicine is preferably practiced, have tried to promote knowledge preservation of traditional medicine through the use of herbaria. However, such preservation is done manually making retrieval and manipulation of such data impossible. Moreover, such information is stored with few institutions which are mainly learning and research institutions, making it accessible to very few people and many a time excluding the majority who are practicing traditional medicine in one way or the other.
The high reliability of the majority of the people on TMK especially phytomedicine, and the undeniable role such knowledge is playing in maintaining people’s health, calls for alternative means and methods of preserving such knowledge and preferably prevent its possible extinction. Application of ICT tools offers a perfect and reliable means of storing TMK. The use of such tools will not only minimize the possible loss of such knowledge but will also promote easy retrieval and improvement of such information. Moreover, since the use of traditional medicine could portend unprecedented health risks to the users, it would be necessary for the relevant country authorities to regulate the use, practice and application of such knowledge. This can be done through regulated registration and licensing of the stakeholders and the ICT tools can prove indispensable in achieving such registration and regulation processes.
Informed by the relevance and vast application of traditional medical practices and the challenges surrounding the general practice in Tanzania, this study was carried out to establish the attitude of the stakeholders towards the adoption of an ICT tool that can digitize TMK information and eventually circumvent the challenges facing the existing methods of perseveration. The study sought out the opinion of 224 stakeholders pertaining the possible use of a digital platform that could manage the practice of TMK. Majority of the stakeholders that were interviewed showed a positive attitude on adopting the use of digital systems that could manage indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants and relevant practitioners.
Moreover, the interviewed stakeholders were asked to indicate important engineering requirements for any likely proposed digital system they thought could appropriately manage TMK. They indicated both functional and non-functions requirements they could wish such a system to possess. Apart from suggesting a system that will securely and reliably capture the relevant information on medicinal plants, a good number of researchers and practitioners indicated the need to have a designed web-mobile tool operating under both Swahili and English language. This indicated that the stakeholders needed to have a tool that would operate in the local language which they were most comfortable with. Additionally, the stakeholders indicated the need to have a tool that would bear responsiveness and flexibility in any screen size. Indeed, users own diverse devices they use to access internet including computers, smartphone and tablets. Therefore, they wished to have a digital tool that would be compatible to their own devices they are familiar with.
The data collected in this study revealed that various stakeholders of traditional medicine had a similar view on the functional and non-functional requirements on the proposed web-mobile application. For instance, researchers from Arusha indicated the kind of needs that were similar to those of their counterparts from Dar es Salaam. Although the requirements were expressed in different ways, they all pointed to the same need, thus they were all categorized into one group for documentation. The gathered information from the stakeholders on the functional and non-functions engineering requirements was used to design a model structure for phytomedicine that can be integrated into a digital web application in storing and managing such knowledge.
6. Conclusion
Preserving TMK is very crucial since modern medical innovative solutions can be derived from such knowledge. Moreover, such knowledge has found vast application among communities especially in developing countries where the majority are relying on traditional medicine for their day to day health needs. Digitization of such knowledge will guarantee perpetual storage and general management. This will also alleviate the general drawbacks facing most of the currently existing methods of preserving and managing TMK. This research study presents the initial functional and non-functional requirements that can be used to build a web-mobile application for capturing and documenting TMK on medicinal plants to minimize its extinction and manage practitioners’ registration processes in Tanzania. The requirements collected and analyzed from this study examines details of traditional medicine stakeholder’s needs which can be extensively used as a guideline for digitizing indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants. However, Prototyping model can be employed during system development for improvement and validation of these requirements through client’s feedback.
Acknowledgments
Success in this study is owed to technical and non-technical assistance rendered by various people and institutions. Our sincere gratitude are extended to Mr. Chrian Mkombozi, an Ethnobotanical Researcher at Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI), Dr. Marko Hingi, Medical Officer at TAHPC, the management of UDSM, ITM, TAHPC and NHT for their tireless support during data collection. This work was fully financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
References
- Abbott, R. (2014). Documenting Traditional Medical Knowledge. Geneva, Switzerland: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
-
Antwi-Baffour, S. S., Bello, A. I., Adjei, D. N., Mahmood, S. A., & Ayeh-Kumi, P. F. (2014). The place of traditional medicine in the African society: The science, acceptance and support. American Journal of Health Research, 2(2), 49-54.
[https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140202.13]
-
Anyaoku, E. N., Nwafor-Orizu, O. E., & Eneh, E. A. (2015). Collection and preservation of traditional medical knowledge: Roles for medical libraries in Nigeria. Journal of Library and Information Sciences, 3(1), 33-43.
[https://doi.org/10.15640/jlis.v3n1a2]
-
Becker, P., Tebes, G., Peppino, D., & Olsina, L. (2019). Applying an Improving Strategy that embeds Functional and Non-Functional Applying an Improving Strategy that embeds Functional and Non-Functional Requirements Concepts. Journal of Computer Science & Technology, 19(2), 153-174.
[https://doi.org/10.24215/16666038.19.e15]
- Beebwa, I. E., Marwa, J., Chacha, M., & Dida, M. A. (2019). Stakeholders’ Attitude on the Use of ICT Tools for Sustainable Propagation of Indigenous Knowledge in Tanzania: A Case of Traditional Medical Knowledge of Medicinal Plants. International Journal of Information Technology and Computer Science, 11(11), 34-43.
- Chakraborty, A., Baowaly, M. K., Arefin, A., & Bahar, A. N. (2012). The role of requirement engineering in software development life cycle. Journal of emerging trends in computing and information sciences, 3(5), 723-729. Retrieved from http://www.cisjournal.org/journalofcomputing/archive/vol3no5/vol3no5_9.pdf
- Government of Zambia. (2016). Protection of Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Expressions of Folklore Act, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.informea.org/en/legislation/protection-traditional-knowledge-genetic-resources-and-expressions-folklore-act-2016-no
- Gowtham, V., Manoj, Y., Pooventhiran, G., Praveen, A., Shivaram, R., & Kathiresan, A. (2017). Evolutionary Models in Software Engineering. International Journal of New Technology and Research, 3(5), 30-33. Retrieved from https://www.ijntr.org/download_data/IJNTR03050008.pdf
- Haouari, E., Makaou, S. E., Jnah, M., & Haddaouy, A. (2018). A survey of medicinal plants used by herbalists in Taza (Northern Morocco) to manage various ailments. Journal of Materials and Environmental Sciences, 9(6), 1875-1888.
-
Harrington, J., & Harrington, J. (2018). Governing traditional medicine in Kenya: Problematization and the role of the constitution. African Studies, 77(2), 223-239.
[https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2018.1452856]
-
Hidayat, E., Noprisson, H., Sensuse, D. I., Sucahyo, Y. G., & Putra, E. D. (2016, December). Development of mobile application for documenting traditional knowledge in Indonesia. In 2016 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
[https://doi.org/10.1109/SCORED.2016.7810043]
- Kayombo, E., Mahunnah, R., & Uiso, F. (2013). Prospects and Challenges of Medicinal Plants Conservation and Traditional Medicine in Tanzania Edmund. Anthropol, 1(3), 1-8.
- Kendall, K. E., & Kendall, J. E. (2013). Systems Analys And Design (9th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.
- Koumpouros, Y., & Birbas, K. (2013). Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support diffusion of Traditional Medicine across European and Asian countries: The Greek perspective. Health Science Journal, 7(4), 356-369. Retrieved from http://hypatia.lb.teiath.gr/bitstream/11400/1464/1/742.pdf
-
Levy, M., Hadar, I., & Aviv, I. (2019). A requirements engineering methodology for knowledge management solutions: integrating technical and social aspects. Requirements Engineering, 24(4), 503-521.
[https://doi.org/10.1007/s00766-018-0298-x]
-
Liwa, A., Roediger, R., Jaka, H., Bougaila, A., Smart, L., Langwick, S., & Peck, R. (2017). Herbal and Alternative Medicine Use in Tanzanian Adults Admitted with Hypertension-Related Diseases: A Mixed-Methods Study. International Journal of Hypertension, 2017.
[https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5692572]
-
Mahomoodally, M. F. (2013). Traditional medicines in Africa: An appraisal of ten potent African medicinal plants. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013.
[https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/617459]
-
Matyokurehwa, K., Mavetera, N., & Jokonya, O. (2017). Requirements Engineering Techniques: A Systematic Literature Review. International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, 7(6), 858-865.
[https://doi.org/10.23956/ijarcsse/V6I9/01917]
- Ministrary of Health, Ghana. (n.d.). Alternative Medicine Council. Retrieved from http://www.moh.gov.gh/alternative-medicine-council/
- More, N. T., Sapre, B. S., & Chawan, P. M. (2011). An Insight into the Importance of Requirements Engineering. International Journal of Internet Computing, 1(2), 34-36. Retrieved from http://interscience.in/IJIC_Vol1Iss2/paper6.pdf
-
Moshi, M. J., Otieno, D. F., Mbabazi, P. K., & Weisheit, A. (2010). Ethnomedicine of the Kagera Region, north western Tanzania. Part 2: The medicinal plants used in Katoro Ward, Bukoba district. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 6(1), 19.
[https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-6-19]
- Nadkarni, A., & Rajam, S. (2016). Capitalising the Benefits of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) in Favour of Indigenous Communities. NUJS L. Rev., 9, 183-216.
- Ozioma, E. O. J., & Chinwe, O. A. N. (2019). Herbal Medicines in African Traditional Medicine. Herbal Medicine, 10, 191-214.
- Pandey, D., & Pandey, V. (2012). Importance of Requirement Management: Requirement Engineering Concern. International Journal of Research and Development - A Management Review (IJRDMR), 1(1), 66-70. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ad85/93ce74f392ce1924eadd420762d258711a8b.pdf
- Shakya, A. K. (2016). Medicinal plants: Future source of new drugs. International Journal of Herbal Medicine, 4(4), 59-64. Retrieved from http://www.florajournal.com/archives/2016/vol4issue4/PartA/4-2-13-120.pdf
- Sommerville, I. (2011). Software engineering (9th ed.). Retrieved from https://sovannarith.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/software-engineering-9th-ed-intro-txt-i-sommerville-pearson_-2011-bbs.pdf
-
Stanifer, J. W., Patel, U. D., Karia, F., Thielman, N., Maro, V., Shimbi, D., …, & Boyd, D. (2015). The determinants of traditional medicine use in northern Tanzania: A mixed-methods study. PLOS ONE, 10(4), 1-17.
[https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122638]
- The United Republic of Tanzania (URT). (2002). The Traditional and Alternatne Medicines Act, 2002. Retrieved from http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/tan155105.pdf
- United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2003.Con-vention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Paris: UNESCO.
-
Vissers, J., Van den Bosch, F., Bogaerts, A., Cocquyt, C., Degreef, J., Diagre, D., ..., & Fabri, R. (2017). Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal. PhytoKeys, 78, 37-57.
[https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936]
- World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. (2012). The African health monitor. Brazzaville, Republic of Congo: WHO Regional Office for Africa. Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s21374en/s21374en.pdf
- Wu, L., Pa, N. C., Abdullah, R., Ab.Rahman, W. N., & Tee, M. (2016). Exploring functional and non-functional requirements of social media on knowledge sharing. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 93(2), 595-605. Retrived from http://www.jatit.org/volumes/Vol93No2//35Vol93No2.pdf
-
Xue, R., Fang, Z., Zhang, M., Yi, Z., Wen, C., & Shi, T. (2012). TCMID: traditional Chinese medicine integrative database for herb molecular mechanism analysis. Nucleic Acids Research, 41(D1), D1089-D1095.
[https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gks1100]
-
Yuan, H., Ma, Q., Ye, L., & Piao, G. (2016). The traditional medicine and modern medicine from natural products. Molecules, 21(5), 559.
[https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules21050559]
Irene Evarist Beebwa1 is a master’s degree student in Information and Communication Science and engineering, specializing in Information Technology Systems Development and Management (ITSDM) at Nelson Mandela, African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha Tanzania. Her research interests include Information and Communication Technologies for development (ICT4D) and Data Science.
Mussa Ally Dida is a Lecturer at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). He acquired his B.Sc. in Computer Engineering and Information Technology from University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering from University of Dodoma (UDOM) 2008 and 2011 respectively and a Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), Beijing, China in 2017. His research interests include signals and communication systems analysis, modeling and optimization, online system development and currently working in farmers’ extension support system and private school enrollment and communication systems.
Musa Chacha completed his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from university of Botswana. He is currently a senior lecturer and head of sustainable, biodiversity and ecosystem management department at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. Initially, he worked on indigenous knowledge on the use of plants for the management of insects transmitting vector borne diseases and plants used for the management of diseases including waterborne diseases. Plant extracts and pure compounds inhibiting the growth of pathogens causing vector borne and water borne diseases have been established. He has also researched on the different insecticidal plants and insecticidal microorganism for management of Insect pest. He has also engaged in a number of research projects and consultancies. Dr. Chacha research focus is on Natural product, Bioprospecting, green Chemistry and Phytochemistry. He has published about 30 articles in scientific journals.
David Onchonga Nyakundi is a lecturer and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU) in Moshi, Tanzania. He holds a PhD degree in Biotechnology from Rhodes University in South Africa with a vast teaching experience of more than ten years. He initially worked as an assistant lecturer in Technical University of Kenya (former Kenya Polytechnic). He has taught and written course books in different science subjects that include Molecular Biology and genetics, Immunology and Biotechnology. His research interest is in molecular basis of Malaria and molecular characterization of different chaperones in Plasmodium falciparum as possible new drug targets where he has published some papers. He is also currently involved on researching about the application of algae (spirulina) in mitigating malnutrition and the scourge of HIV-AIDS and other non-communicable diseases.
Janeth Marwa completed her PhD in Organizational Development and transformation from CEBU Doctors University, Philippines (2011). Currently, she is a lecturer at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). Her research interests are in Organizational learning, innovation leadership, knowledge management and Entrepreneurship.
