Review of Related Literature

Folk Herbalist

- Tested the curative effects of herbal medicines

- Handed from generations to generations

- Moral support and psychological comfort from patients

- High social status and are well respected

• Modern drugs- cheaper- decline of herbal medicines popularity

• 1992 - Administrative Order No.12- Traditional Medicine Program- Senator Juan Flavier- Promotion of Traditional Medicine

• RA 8423

Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA)

Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC)

“Traditional and alternative health care in the hands of the people”

- A Government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC)

- To deliver the traditional alternative health care.

Republic Act 8423

• Alternative Healthcare - used in the prevention, diagnosis and elimination of physical or mental disorder

• Traditional Medicine – Recognized by the people– interrelations based on culture, history,

heritage and consciousness

According to the DOH, the health sector falls short due to:

- inappropriate health delivery system

- inadequate health regulatory mechanisms

- poor health care financing

Traditional Health Program (10 Halamang Gamot)

Herbal Plants Indications

Akapulko (Cassia alata) ringworms and skin fungal infections, expectorant for bronchitis and dyspnea, mouthwash in stomatitis, diuretic, purgative, anti-pyretic, laxative

Ampalaya (Momordica charantia) Diabetes Mellitus, rheumatism, gout, hypertension, anti-pyretic, disinfectant, anti-diarrhea, enhances immunes system, and remedy for cough

Bawang (Allium sativum) Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cough and cold, sore throat, toothache

Bayabas (Psidium guajava) Antiseptic, mouth wash, anti-pyretic, anti-rheumatism

Lagundi (Vitex negundo) Asthma, cough, colds, removal of worms and boils

Niyog-niyogan (Quisqualis indica L.) Elimination of intestinal worms

Sambong (Blumea balsamifera) Urinary stones, dysentery, sore throat

Tsaang Gubat (Ehretia microphylla Lam.) Intestinal motility

Ulasimang Bato (Peperomia pellucida) Arthritis, gout, pimples, headache, abdominal pain

Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii) Analgesic, indigestion

Ethnopharmacology• scientific study that correlates ethnic groups, their

health practices, and how it relates to their physical habits and methodology in creating and using medicines

• incorporates the social science of ethnology and the medical science of pharmacology.

• it explores medicinal plants in indigenous cultures.

• methods of collection, extraction, preparation – allowed safe usage of the substance and its safety record

Multidisciplinary Effort in Ethnopharmacology

- Documentation of indigenous medical knowledge

- Scientific study of indigenous medicines

- Search for pharmacologically unique principles from existing indigenous remedies.

Who are involved?

• Folk Herbalists

• Botanist

• Anthropologist

• Chemist

• Pharmacologist

• Medical Practitioner

Role of Physicians

- interviewing healers

- interpreting traditional terminologies into their modern counterparts

- examining patients consuming herbal remedies

- identifying the disease for which an herbal remedy is used

- Interpretation of signs and symptoms

- Clinical studies on herbs and their interaction with modern medicines

- Advising pharmacologists

- Strengthen traditional system of medicine in a community

• Collection of information from local population concerning the use of regional medicinal plants, identified the most important species used and calculate the Informant consensus factor (ICF). The collection of data relied on a qualitative interview (Aburjai et al)

Ethnopharmacological Studies

Uttara Kannada District

- 92 traditional medicine practitioners/healers were interviewed to collect information on the use of herbal treatments

- Information was also collected on the method of preparation, dose and duration along with the botanical names, family and local names of the medicinal plants (Hedge et al).

- Performed door-to-door visits in order to identify the local people with specialized knowledge on the use of the medicinal plants.

- By using the snowball method, the names of other specialists were obtained.

- Calculated the Informant consensus factor (ICF) for the data analysis.

- The rural dwellers of the community helped in collection of the information.

In the study of Gazzaneo

• In 2003, the University of Navarra, Spain organized an interdisciplinary research team to conduct an ethnobotanical and medical study in the Navarre Pyrenees.

• The study was intended to attain a more thorough understanding on the plants used in Navarre’s traditional medicine, the principles behind their use, their composition, and therapeutic use.

• The objectives of the study included compiling an ethnobotanical and medical catalogue of the Navarre Pyrenean Region.

• To conduct a quantitative analysis of the results and compare it with other ethnobotanical studies of the Pyrenees region

• To do a review on the safety and efficacy of the drugs with the purpose of assessing the official validity of the pharmacology of the Navarre Pyrenees.

Data Gathering on Ethnopharmacology

• People who have knowledge on traditional medicine.

• Individual Interviews

• Open and semi-structured questions

• More than one interview session took place

Determination of the Interviewees (Folk Herbalists)

• Local representatives help in identifying folk herbalists (Gazzaneo).

• The local people guide in locating the folk herbalists (Akerreta).

• The chosen folk herbalists have no scientific knowledge on the medicinal plants (Akerreta).

• The interviewees are born or live most of their lives in the studied region (Akerreta).

In the Study of Akerreta

Data analysis was done using quantitative indexes

a. Ethnobotanicity Index

b. Shannon-Wiener's Diversity

c. Equitability

d. The Informant Consensus Factor

• According to WHO, traditional medicine is still being used by 80% of the world population as part of their health care, especially those in developing countries.

• Many African countries including Tanzania, depend on traditional healers who provide primary health care by taking care of people living with emerging diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Kisangau).

• It was noted that greater than 60% of the people in Tanzania resort to traditional medicines in managing various diseases including HIV/AIDS (Kisangau).

• In this study, the researchers used an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire to gather field information. Analysis of the ethnobotanical data collected was done using descriptive statistics. They used the factor of informant consensus (Fic) to analyze the ethnobotanical importance of the plants.

In the Study of Tilahun et al

22.8% - gastrointestinal disorder and parasites22.1% - external injuries and parasites17.9% - rabies and internal diseases8.3% - swelling and cancer6.2% - evil eye and devil sickness6.2% - sensorial disease4.8% - venereal disease and impotence4.1% - 'mich' and febrile diseases4.1% - respiratory and throat infection3.4% - snake bite