Abstract

IMPROVE COMMUNITY HEALTH THROUGH HERBAL MEDICINE: USES AND APPLICATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS - A CASE STUDY IN SOUTH INDIA

Sreenivasa,*, Azis Kemal Fauzie, Sharath V. G. and Vahid Sharifi

Abstract

Educational training on herbal medicine uses and application of medicinal plants for community based farmers is a new intervention being carried out at BIRD-K training centre. An educational training programme to revitalize the herbal plants of traditions was initiated in 2003 by BIRD-K Tiptur in collaboration with government human health care department, ethnobotanical healers and many field based non-governmental organizations in southern India. In the training documented about forty-seven plant species used against different health disorder of rural community farmers. Information was collected from local people, physicians and traditional healer’s literature about plant name, family, local name, Sanskrit name, parts used and uses to cure various health related problems, mode of administration are listed in the form of table 3. The interviewed traditional healer groups use plant parts either single or in combined form to treat health disorders like cholera, asthma, bone diseases abdominal pain, diarrhea, dysentery, worm, and stomach pain etc. So the study, training and documentation and conservation of the knowledge are essential. Proper identification and documentation of these plants were successfully done, which will help to select these plants for further studies.

Keywords: Asthma, Documentation, Educational training, Herbal plants, Participatory Rural Appraisal, Rapid Rural Appraisal.