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Wellbeing > Case Studies > Traditional Medicine and Refugee Women's Health in the Thai-Myanmar Border Region
Traditional Medicine and Refugee Women's Health in the Thai-Myanmar Border RegionMore than 1 million Burmese refugees and forced migrants live in Thailand. A new research partnership between the Queen Sikirit Botanic Garden (QSBG) and the Global Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health at Oxford, UK, aims to research and promote the use of plants to treat common health conditions, including women's health and reproductive and sexual health issues. The programme has included research on knowledge and use of traditional medicine in female outpatients at Mae Tao Refugee Clinic; interviews with female traditional health practicioners; development of a network of herbalists, providing coordinated traditional healthcare services to rural refugee villages and communities; and development of a medicinal plants database for community and healthworker use. Findings have highlighted that 42 female respondents could list over 190 traditional remedies used for common health conditions, and 13 of these women had learned this knowledge from the mother or grandmother. Also, female traditional practicioners were active in treating women's conditions in the refugee families. The ethnobotanical information of 400 plants, including information on safe and effective use of medicines, was recorded and databased, and will be used in field manuals provided for use by traditional practicioners, community health workers and refugee families throughout the region. This work has not only consolidated and promoted the essential role of plant medicines in treating health problems, but it also emphasises the essential role that women play in practicing medicine and conserving traditional ethnobotanical knowledge.
This content is adapted from Research Notes by Songsri Pipitkul (QSBG), Zaw Min Oo and Gerard Bodeker (GIFTS of Health), and Cora Neumann (Oxford Institute for International Development). BGCI Continues with Medicinal Plant ConservationHaving highlighted some important focal points with our CITES and Medicinal Plants project, BGCI is continuing it's work in this field in association with both the IUCN's Medicinal Plants Specialist Group (MPSG) and the Medicinal Plants Working Group (MPWG) of the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA). Find Out MoreGlobal Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health |
Journal ArticlesDecember 1994
December 1994
Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual (Gary J Martin, 2004)
 This book is part of Earthscan's successful "People and Plants Conservation" Series, and is a basic introduction to the practice and uses of ethnobotany (study of the classification, use and management of plants). Ethnobotany is critical to developing new crops and the medicinal use of plants. |