Bakera, a herbal steam bath for postnatal care in Minahasa (Indonesia): documentation of the plants used and assessment of the method

Folklore use of medicinal plants for the treatment of gynecological diseases in Pakistan-a review

Background

Gynecological issues and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) pose significant challenges to women's health, particularly in developing nations. These challenges are exacerbated by limited access to modern reproductive healthcare facilities, economic constraints, and entrenched cultural norms. Consequently, most of the Pakistani population relies on traditional ethno-medicinal healthcare systems. This preference stems from the ease of access, affordability, widespread availability, and inherent trust placed in these alternative healthcare methods.

Aim/objective

The inquiry aimed to report details on the application of conventional uses of plants in the health field in rural areas that could contribute to advancing the natural discovery of drugs. The objective of this analysis is to provide researchers with information on conventional and empirical knowledge of plant species concerning women's diseases.

Methodology

Information on the common use of medicinal plants in treating women's diseases was gathered from electronic databases. As a keyword for the quest, ethnobotany, and ethnopharmacology were used together with gynecological complications.

Result

The work of the current analysis has revealed that 217 plant species belonging to 89 families have been used in Pakistan's rural communities. The majority of plant species belong to the Apiaceae family, followed by the Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Solanaceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, and other families. The biological interpretation of plants used in rural communities of Pakistan revealed that herbs and trees are the dominant forms with 58 % and 23 % respectively while shrubs and sub-shrubs with a low percentage of 17 % and 2 %. In natural preparation, leaves 29 %, flowers 22 %, seeds 14 %, fruits 14 %, roots 13 %, bark 7 %, and stems 5 % were the most used parts respectively and aerial parts, dried pericarp, bulb, bud, berry, latex, wood, rhizome, husk, fruit coat, oil, resins, twigs, and shoot were also used in minimum percentage. A multitude of plant species have found extensive application in the management of diverse women's health issues. These encompass concerns such as fatigue, mood fluctuations attributed to menstrual problems, gonorrhea, complications related to pregnancy, cravings for specific foods, throbbing breast pain, abdominal and pelvic cramps, excessive vaginal discharge, mastitis, irritability, abortion-related matters, headaches, uterine hemorrhage, Menorrhagia, Amenorrhea, Menopause, Vomiting Abortion, infertility and lactation challenges, as well as the regulation of lochia flow.

Conclusion

This review provides remarkable information about the use of medicinal plants against women's diseases in the rural communities of Pakistan. It opens the gateway for the discovery of natural drug development.

Exploring unconventional food plants used by local communities in a rural area of West Java, Indonesia: ethnobotanical assessment, use trends, and potential for improved nutrition

BACKGROUND

As one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, Indonesia contains over 25,000 plant species, including unconventional food plants (UFPs). These plants are integral to the dietary practices of rural communities, providing essential nutrients often overlooked in modern diets. However, the use of UFP is declining, with both their dietary and cultural values being undermined. In rural West Java, this decline in UFP biodiversity coincides with public health challenges related to malnutrition. This study aims to document the diversity of UFPs used by local communities in rural West Java, assess their nutritional value, and explore their consumption practices.

METHODS

Data were collected using mixed methods, including interviews with 20 key informants and food frequency questionnaire administered to 107 women in three villages in the area. The nutritional compositions of documented UFPs were obtained from literature and analysis. Bivariate correlation was used to analyze the relationships between UFP consumption frequency and potential correlates.

RESULTS

The study documented 52 species of UFPs from 29 families, many of which are rich in nutritional value. About half of respondents (56%) consumed UFPs moderately (2-3 times a week). UFP consumption frequency had a strong correlation (r = 0.70) with associated knowledge (r = 0.70, p < 0.01) and a weak correlation with age (r = 0.240, p = 0.015), livestock possession (r = 0.260, p = 0.008), and family size (r = - 0.220, p = 0.02). Motivations for UFP consumption included availability as free food (33%), medicinal value (26%), nostalgic value (23%), and preferred taste (18%). Most respondents (92%) agreed that consumption has declined compared to the past, with perceived reduced availability and lack of knowledge cited as the primary reasons for the declining trend.

CONCLUSIONS

UFP use is common in the study area, where local communities value these plants for their critical roles in diet, medicine, and culture. Given their significant potential to meet dietary needs, educating and raising awareness about UFPs can enhance their consumption and contribute to food and nutrition security.

Insights into the anti-infective effects of Pluchea indica (L.) Less and its bioactive metabolites against various bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Pluchea indica (L.) Less (family Asteraceae) is popularly consumed as a medicinal vegetable and used in ethnomedicine to treat various diseases including gastrointestinal problems such as dysentery and leucorrhoea, which are due to bacterial, fungal or parasitic infections. There have been numerous studies on the antimicrobial effects of the plant due to these ethnomedicine use.

AIM OF THIS REVIEW

This review is comprehensively discussed the information on the anti-infective properties of P. indica and its secondary metabolites, and highlight the potential of the plant as a new source of anti-infective agents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Scientific databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, and ACS Publications were used to gather the relevant information on the ability of P. indica to fight infections, with the leaves and roots receiving most of the attention.

RESULTS

Anti-bacterial, anti-mycobacterial, anti-malarial, and anti-viral activities have been the most exploited. Most studies were carried out on the crude extracts of the plant and in most studies the bioactive extracts were not standardized or chemically characterized. Several studies have reported the anti-infective activity of several bioactive components of P. indica including caffeoylquinic acids, terpenoid glycosides, thiophenes, and kaempferol.

CONCLUSIONS

The strong anti-infective effect and underlying mechanisms of the compounds provide insights into the potential of P. indica as a source of new leads for the development of anti-infective agents for use in food and pharmaceutical industries.

African Herbal Medicines: Adverse Effects and Cytotoxic Potentials with Different Therapeutic Applications

The African continent is naturally endowed with various plant species with nutritional and medicinal benefits. About 80% of the people in developing countries rely on folk medicines to treat different diseases because of indigenous knowledge, availability, and cost-effectiveness. Extensive research studies have been conducted on the medicinal uses of African plants, however, the therapeutic potentials of some of these plants has remained unexploited. Over the years, several studies have revealed that some of these African floras are promising candidates for the development of novel drugs. Despite the plethora of studies on medicinal plant research in Africa, there is still little scientific data supporting the folkloric claims of these plants. Besides, safety in the use of folk medicines has been a major public health concern over the year. Therefore, it has become mandatory that relevant authority should take measures in safeguarding the populace on the use of herbal mixtures. Thus, the present review extracted relevant information from different scientific databases and highlighted some problems associated with folk medicines, adverse effects on reproductive systems, issue about safety due to the toxicity of some plants and their toxicity effects with potential therapeutic benefits are discussed.

Factors affecting the use of herbal medicines in the universal health coverage system in Indonesia

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Medicinal plants play an essential role in primary healthcare practices in Indonesia, particularly in rural areas. While medicinal plants are broadly used in Indonesia, the country has made a commitment to healthcare services based on modern medicine through the provision of universal health coverage (UHC).

AIM OF THE STUDY

In the context of the UHC system in Indonesia, we explore the utilization of medicinal plants in rural West Java by examining how herbal medicine use varies with socio-economic and demographic factors and whether herbal medicine use remains important when modern healthcare becomes available.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 634 households in the two rural communities were randomly selected to participate in the survey. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected adult in each household.

RESULTS

Herbal medicine use prevalence was found to be 68% (431/634). Out of 549 total respondents with perceived illness, 40% (219/549) self-medicated with herbal medicines in the last six months. A total of 102 medicinal plant species belonging to 43 families were reported, each with their local names, medicinal use, and parts used. We found that herbal medicine use was significantly associated with the area of residence, age, education level and occupation, and was not correlated to gender or health insurance possession.

CONCLUSION

Medicinal plant remains a significant aspect of healthcare for rural communities in the West Java area. The presence of healthcare services under the UHC system is not a critical determining factor for treatment-seeking and may have less impact on the pervasive practice of herbal medicine use in rural areas.

Screening of in vitro antimicrobial activity of plants used in traditional Indonesian medicine

CONTEXT

In many regions of Indonesia, there are numerous traditional herbal preparations for treatment of infectious diseases. However, their antimicrobial potential has been poorly studied by modern laboratory methods.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates in vitro antimicrobial activity of 49 ethanol extracts from 37 plant species used in Indonesian traditional medicine for treatment against Candida albicans, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The plants were collected from the Biopharmaca collection garden, Bogor, Indonesia. The plant material was dried, finely grounded, extracted using ethanol, concentrated, and the dried residue was dissolved in 100% DMSO. Antimicrobial activity was determined in terms of a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using a broth microdilution method in 96-well microplates.

RESULTS

The extract of Orthosiphon aristatus (Blume) Miq. (Lamiaceae) leaf produced the strongest antimicrobial effect, inhibiting the growth of C. albicans (MIC 128 μg/mL), S. aureus (MIC 256 μg/mL), E. faecalis (MIC 256 μg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (MIC 256 μg/mL). The leaf extract of Woodfordia floribunda Salisb. (Lythraceae) also exhibited significant effect against C. albicans (MIC 128 μg/mL), S. aureus (MIC 256 μg/mL) and E. faecalis (MIC 256 μg/mL). Rotheca serrata (L.) Steane & Mabb. (Lamiaceae) leaf extract inhibited the growth of S. aureus (MIC 256 µg/mL) and C. albicans (MIC 256 µg/mL).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The leaf extract of O. aristatus and W. floribunda exhibited a significant anti-candidal effect. Therefore, both of these plants can serve as prospective source materials for the development of new anti-candidal agents.

Herbal bathing: an analysis of variation in plant use among Saramaccan and Aucan Maroons in Suriname

BACKGROUND

Herbal baths play an important role in the traditional health care of Maroons living in the interior of Suriname. However, little is known on the differences in plant ingredients used among and within the Maroon groups. We compared plant use in herbal baths documented for Saramaccan and Aucan Maroons, to see whether similarity in species was related to bath type, ethnic group, or geographical location. We hypothesized that because of their dissimilar cultural background, they used different species for the same type of bath. We assumed, however, that plants used in genital baths were more similar, as certain plant ingredients (e.g., essential oils), are preferred in these baths.

METHODS

We compiled a database from published and unpublished sources on herbal bath ingredients and constructed a presence/absence matrix per bath type and study site. To assess similarity in plant use among and within Saramaccan and Aucan communities, we performed three Detrended Correspondence Analyses on species level and the Jaccard Similarity Index to quantify similarity in bath ingredients.

RESULTS

We recorded 349 plants used in six commonly used bath types: baby strength, adult strength, skin diseases, respiratory ailments, genital steam baths, and spiritual issues. Our results showed a large variation in plant ingredients among the Saramaccan and Aucans and little similarity between Saramaccans and Aucans, even for the same type of baths. Plant ingredients for baby baths and genital baths shared more species than the others. Even within the Saramaccan community, plant ingredients were stronger associated with location than with bath type.

CONCLUSIONS

Plant use in bathing was strongly influenced by study site and then by ethnicity, but less by bath type. As Maroons escaped from different plantations and developed their ethnomedicinal practices in isolation, there has been little exchange in ethnobotanical knowledge after the seventeenth century between ethnic groups. Care should be taken in extrapolating plant use data collected from one location to a whole ethnic community. Maroon plant use deserves more scientific attention, especially now as there are indications that traditional knowledge is disappearing.

The meaning of complementary, alternative and traditional medicine among the Indonesian psychology community: a pilot study

OBJECTIVE

Complementary, alternative and traditional medicine (CATM) is a new field, as well as a promising area of study and practice in psychology. It is important to research the cultural context and meaning of CATM, including its definitions and examples, among different communities of psychology because CATM's use is dependent on how it is understood by the members. The aim of this pilot study is to provide an interpretation of the Indonesian psychology community's understanding of CATM through a qualitative approach.

METHODS

Online interviews with open-ended questions and purposive sampling were used. Participants were dominantly psychologists or lecturers in clinical psychology area. Ten males and 12 females with an average age of 28.0 ± 2.5 years voluntarily participated in this study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and reviewed and analysed by the two authors to ensure accuracy of interpretation.

RESULTS

It was found that there was no single meaning of CATM among the Indonesian community of psychology. Participants were not familiar enough with the terms and tended to use them with overlap. It can be suggested that "complementary medicine" and "alternative medicine" or "complementary-alternative medicine" combined provides more suitable terminology for use among Indonesian psychology community when communicating with other health care professionals.

CONCLUSION

The understanding of the terms and examples of CATM were diverse and were often used interchangeably in the projects/interviews. It was also found that Indonesian psychologists required more education regarding CATM. In addition, future studies with more participants from various aspects of the psychology community should be conducted to capture a more representative sample.

An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants in Trinidad

BACKGROUND

An ethnobotanical survey was conducted on the Caribbean island of Trinidad to identify medicinal plants commonly used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of medical conditions.

METHODS

A pilot survey was conducted to identify the top ten most common ailments where medicinal plants were used. The results of the foregoing study guided a wider national survey conducted between October 2007 and July 2008. A total of 450 households from 50 rural communities were interviewed using the TRAMIL (Traditional Medicine in the Islands) questionnaire for data collection. Details of plants, part(s) used, and remedy formulations were elicited from informants and voucher specimens collected for identification at the National Herbarium of Trinidad and Tobago. The TRAMIL methodology set a limit of a plant with 20 % or more citations for any particular ailment as having significant or popular use.

RESULTS

At the end of the survey 917 single plant remedies were identified. The majority of species were from the following families; Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Leguminosae, Verbenaceae and Poaceae. Applying the TRAMIL 20 % citation of a plant for popular use as significant, Leonotis nepetifolia (for cough/common cold), Gomphrena globosa (for "stoppage-of-water"), Curcuma longa and Senna occidentalis (for "afterbirth"), Cymbopogon citratus and Neurolaena lobata (for fever), and Citrus limon (for kidney stones) qualified in our study. Those not reaching the TRAMIL 20 % significant (popular) use were Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl, Senna alata (L.) Roxb.and Momordica charantia L. which were widely used as "'cooling/cleanser'" in our survey.

CONCLUSIONS

Our survey showed significant retention of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in rural Trinidad. More interestingly, a large remnant of medico-cultural concepts such as "cooling/cleanser", "afterbirth", "stoppage-of-water" and "womb infection" persist in the rural population. Although the scientific literature show that some of the cited plants possessed antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and related pharmacological activities in laboratory studies, these results must be taken with caution until clinical trials are conducted to establish safety and efficacy.

Plants used during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and infant healthcare in Palestine

PURPOSE

This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and the factors related to the use of herbs by women during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and for infant healthcare. The study also aims to identify the herbs therapeutic uses and preparation. To date, no previous studies have investigated this prevalence in Palestine.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of women of different child-bearing age group inhabiting different locations in Palestine was carried out by means of a semi-structured questionnaire.

RESULTS

A total of 372 women were interviewed. Of the participants 72.3% reported using herbs at different pregnancy stages and for infant healthcare. The most common herbal products used in this study at different stages of pregnancy were Pimpinella anisum, Salvia fruticosa, Matricaria aurea, and Mentha spicata.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that there is an appreciable prevalence of herbal use among pregnant women at different pregnancy stages and for infant healthcare in Palestine.

Scientific evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems of the body

The use of water for various treatments (hydrotherapy) is probably as old as mankind. Hydrotherapy is one of the basic methods of treatment widely used in the system of natural medicine, which is also called as water therapy, aquatic therapy, pool therapy, and balneotherapy. Use of water in various forms and in various temperatures can produce different effects on different system of the body. Many studies/reviews reported the effects of hydrotherapy only on very few systems and there is lack of studies/reviews in reporting the evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems. We performed PubMed and PubMed central search to review relevant articles in English literature based on "effects of hydrotherapy/balneotherapy" on various systems of the body. Based on the available literature this review suggests that the hydrotherapy has a scientific evidence-based effect on various systems of the body.

Medicinal plants for women's healthcare in southeast Asia: a meta-analysis of their traditional use, chemical constituents, and pharmacology

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

This is an extensive review of plants used traditionally for women's healthcare in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. Medicinal plants have a significant role in women's healthcare in many rural areas of the world. Plants with numerous efficacious observations have historically been used as a starting point in the development of new drugs, and a large percentage of modern pharmaceuticals have been derived from medicinal plants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A review was conducted for all plant use mentioned specifically for female healthcare, such as medicine to increase fertility, induce menstruation or abortion, ease pregnancy and parturition, reduce menstrual bleeding and postpartum hemorrhage, alleviate menstrual, parturition and postpartum pain, increase or inhibit lactation, and treat mastitis and uterine prolapse, in 200 studies focusing on medicinal plant use, either general studies or studies focusing specifically on women's healthcare.

RESULTS

Nearly 2000 different plant species are reported to be used in over 5000 combinations. Most common are Achyranthes aspera, Artemisia vulgaris, Blumea balsamifera, Carica papaya, Curcuma longa, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Leonurus japonicus, Psidium guajava and Ricinus communis, and each of these species had been reported in more than 10 different scientific articles.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides a basis for traditional plant use in women's healthcare, and these species can be used as the starting point in the discovery of new drugs.

Medicinal plants used in Hmong women's healthcare in northern Thailand

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

We studied traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used for women's healthcare in three Hmong villages in northern Thailand and determined how prevalent such knowledge is. We documented traditional medical practices and determined which of the species used are culturally important among the Hmong.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We interviewed six key informants and 147 non-specialist informants about their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used in Hmong women's healthcare. We selected nine species that were known in all three villages as the domain for questionnaire interviews with 181 additional and randomly selected non-specialist informants. We calculated the Cultural Importance index (CI) for each species and use category. We tested normality of the data, age correlations, and gender correlations with Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney tests.

RESULTS

We documented traditional knowledge of 79 medicinal plants used in women's healthcare. Of these, three species were culturally important to the Hmong. Our questionnaire interviews revealed significant difference in traditional medicinal plant knowledge between genders and age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The Hmong people in northern Thailand possess large amounts of traditional knowledge related to women's healthcare and plants used for this purpose. However, this knowledge, even for the culturally important species, is not possessed by all Hmong and there were signs of knowledge erosion. Preservation of the Hmong intellectual heritage related to medicinal plants used in women's healthcare requires intensive traditional knowledge dissemination to the young Hmong generation.

Steam sauna and mother roasting in Lao PDR: practices and chemical constituents of essential oils of plant species used in postpartum recovery

BACKGROUND

Fundamental in traditional postpartum recovery in Lao PDR is the use of hotbeds, mother roasting, steam sauna and steam baths. During these treatments medicinal plants play a crucial role, but little has been published about how the treatments are carried out precisely, which species are used, the medicinal properties of these species, and the medicinal efficacy of their chemical constituents.

METHODS

Sixty-five interviews, in 15 rural villages, with women of 4 different ethnic groups were conducted to survey confinement rituals, and postpartum plant use and salience. Essential oils from the main species used were extracted using steam distillation and the main chemical constituents characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

RESULTS

A total of 10 different species were used by three or more of the ethnic groups included in this study. All species were used in steam sauna and bath, but only 3 species were used in hotbed and mother roasting. Essential oils of Amomum villosum, Amomum microcarpum and Blumea balsamifera were found to contain significant amounts of the following terpenes: β-pinene, camphor, bornyl acetate, borneol, linalool, D-limonene, fenchone, terpinen-4-ol and α-terpinene.

CONCLUSIONS

Many of these terpenes have documented antimicrobial and analgesic properties, and some have also synergistic interactions with other terpenes. The mode of application in hotbed and mother roasting differs from the documented mechanisms of action of these terpenes. Plants in these two practices are likely to serve mainly hygienic purposes, by segregating the mother from infection sources such as beds, mats, stools, cloth and towels. Steam sauna medicinal plant use through inhalation of essential oils vapors can possibly have medicinal efficacy, but is unlikely to alleviate the ailments commonly encountered during postpartum convalescence. Steam sauna medicinal plant use through dermal condensation of essential oils, and steam bath cleansing of the perineal area is possibly a pragmatic use of the reported medicinal plants, as terpene constituents have documented antimicrobial, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Traditions and plant use during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum recovery by the Kry ethnic group in Lao PDR

BACKGROUND

Activities and diet during the postpartum period are culturally dictated in many Southeast Asian cultures, and a period of confinement is observed. Plants play an important role in recovery during the postpartum period in diet and traditional medicine. Little is known of the Kry, a small ethnic group whose language was recently described, concerning its traditions and use of plants during pregnancy, parturition, postpartum recovery and infant healthcare. This research aims to study those traditions and identify medicinal plant use.

METHODS

Data were collected in the 3 different Kry villages in Khammouane province, Lao PDR, through group and individual interviews with women by female interviewers.

RESULTS

A total of 49 different plant species are used in women's healthcare. Plant use is culturally different from the neighboring Brou and Saek ethnic groups. Menstruation, delivery and postpartum recovery take place in separate, purpose-built, huts and a complex system of spatial restrictions is observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Traditions surrounding childbirth are diverse and have been strictly observed, but are undergoing a shift towards those from neighboring ethnic groups, the Brou and Saek. Medicinal plant use to facilitate childbirth, alleviate menstruation problems, assist recovery after miscarriage, mitigate postpartum haemorrhage, aid postpartum recovery, and for use in infant care, is more common than previously reported (49 species instead of 14). The wealth of novel insights into plant use and preparation will help to understand culturally important practices such as traditional delivery, spatial taboos, confinement and dietary restrictions, and their potential in modern healthcare.

Plants used during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum healthcare in Lao PDR: a comparative study of the Brou, Saek and Kry ethnic groups

BACKGROUND

In many Southeast Asian cultures the activities and diet during the postpartum period are culturally dictated and a period of confinement is observed. Plants play an important role in recovery during the postpartum period in diet, traditional medicine, steam bath and mother roasting (where mother and child placed on a bed above a brazier with charcoal embers on which aromatic plants are laid). This research focuses on the use of plants during pregnancy, parturition, postpartum recovery and infant healthcare among three ethnic groups, the Brou, Saek and Kry. It aims to identify culturally important traditions that may facilitate implementation of culturally appropriate healthcare.

METHODS

Data were collected in 10 different villages in Khammouane province, Lao PDR, through group and individual interviews with women by female interviewers.

RESULTS

A total of 55 different plant species are used in women's healthcare, of which over 90% are used in postpartum recovery. Consensus Analysis rejects the hypothesis that the three ethnic groups belong to a single culture for postpartum plant use, and multidimensional scaling reveals non-overlapping clusters per ethnic group.

CONCLUSION

Medicinal plant use is common among the Brou, Saek and Kry to facilitate childbirth, alleviate menstruation problems, assist recovery after miscarriage, mitigate postpartum haemorrhage, aid postpartum recovery, and for use in infant care. The wealth of novel insights into plant use and preparation will help to understand culturally important practices such as confinement, dietary restrictions, mother roasting and herbal steam baths and their incorporation into modern healthcare.

Bathe the baby to make it strong and healthy: plant use and child care among Saramaccan Maroons in Suriname

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Young children are vulnerable to a range of illnesses and evil forces. Ethnobotanical folk remedies often play a major role in combating these afflictions. Here we show that plant use is highly valued and practiced within the Saramaccan Maroon Society in Suriname to maintain the general health and well-being of children.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To assess the plant use importance in child care, we (1) quantified diversity and current status of herbal pharmacopoeia used in child care and (2) elucidated the reasons why care takers (mostly mothers) use these plants.

METHODOLOGY

We collected botanical vouchers of plants used in child care, carried out an ethnobotanical household survey with 105 women and interviewed 19 key informants.

RESULTS

A total of 178 plant species were used in child care for different purposes. Preventive practices were preferred over curing remedies and plants were most frequently used to keep young children strong and healthy. Child care had a strong magical connotation. Bathing proved to be the most important type of application, often combined with drinking small amounts of the bath water.

CONCLUSIONS

Plants play an important role in child care, but more research is needed on how Maroon plant use reflects actual health problems in young children in the Surinamese interior.

A novel hemostatic model with triple protective functions

While the role of hemostatic activity is well established, the importance of infection prevention in the wound has not been addressed. Based on the available evidence from disinfection and infection prevention, essential oils are attractive candidates for antimicrobial drugs. Therefore, we hypothesize to design a novel hemostatic model with triple protective functions through coordinating essential oils to hematostatic ingredients. The hematostatic ingredients play their roles in hemostasis when hemorrhage occurs. Simultaneously, the essential oils evaporate naturally to form a protective layer around the wound, which can help to prevent pathogenic bacteria from infecting the wound. What more, most plant essential oils possess antibacterial activity. Thus, the essential oils can be used as an accessory treatment for infection once the wound infected by pathogenic bacteria. So the novel hematostatic model with triple protective functions will have broader utility in therapy of out-wound bleeding than current hemostatic drugs.