Data Governance · Phyra Botanical Labs Ltd
Phyra is built on the premise that African medicinal plant knowledge is underutilised scientific infrastructure — not folklore, not cultural artifact, and not raw material for extraction. These principles define how that knowledge is documented, attributed, graded, and commercialised. They are not a values statement. They are operational commitments, structurally implemented in the database, the product, and every layer of access.
Principle 01
Every plant in the Phyra database carries explicit attribution to the communities, languages, and traditions that documented, named, and used it. Local names are recorded in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, French, and Twi. Traditional knowledge systems are recorded as structured data — not metadata, not footnotes.
Evidence Grade D (Ethnobotanical) is a legitimate and distinct epistemic category in our evidence hierarchy, not a lesser grade. Traditional use documented across African communities is knowledge. It is labelled as such.
Structural Basis
local_names_yoruba, local_names_igbo, local_names_hausa, local_names_french, local_names_twi columns on every plant record. traditional_systems JSONB array. origin_regions JSONB array covering West, East, Central, Southern, and North Africa.
Principle 02
Commercial access to the Phyra knowledge graph does not sever the provenance of the knowledge it contains. Attribution travels with the data at every layer of access — consumer, professional, and institutional API. Any institution querying this graph via API is accessing knowledge with documented African provenance, graded evidence, and indigenous attribution intact.
That provenance is not optional. It is not a field that can be stripped. It is the condition of access.
African medicinal knowledge should be documented, attributed, evidence-graded, and responsibly commercialised — with the communities that conserved it named in every record.
Principle 03
Every therapeutic claim in the Phyra database is independently evaluated and evidence-graded. No grade is inherited from the plant level. No claim is assumed from traditional use alone without explicit labelling. Every condition link carries its own evidence grade — assigned per relationship, not per plant.
Uncertainty is displayed, not suppressed. Where evidence is insufficient, that is stated. The E grade (Insufficient Evidence) exists for this reason. Phyra does not hide what is unknown.
Structural Basis
plant_ailment_links.evidence_strength is the sole authoritative per-condition evidence source. Evidence grades A through E assigned per relationship. No inheritance architecture.
Principle 04
The Phyra database is structured for safe use across consumer, practitioner, and institutional contexts. Dosage notes, drug interactions, contraindications, and pregnancy safety classifications are gated behind professional access tiers — not because the information is proprietary, but because context matters.
A safety note without clinical context can cause harm. Phyra's gating architecture is a safety decision, not a monetisation mechanism. All data is drawn from peer-reviewed literature and documented ethnobotanical tradition. Phyra is an educational reference tool. It is not medical advice.
These principles are a citable reference document. Grant proposals, academic papers, institutional partnerships, and ethics review submissions may reference this page directly.
Suggested Citation Format
Phyra Botanical Labs Ltd. Data Governance Principles.
phyra.africa/principles. [Year accessed].
For questions on data provenance, access conditions, or institutional licensing: [email protected]