Ethnomedicine scope in Modern Medicine

 3. Ethnomedicines and Their Scope in the Modern World

Ethnomedicine is a traditional health care practice followed by indigenous people concerned with human health.

 It is the origin of all other traditional medical systems, including Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Nature Cure, as well as modern medicine [27]. 

Knowledge of plants presenting therapeutic properties has been passed on by experimenting through trials and errors from one generation to the next for more than hundreds of years.

 Ethnomedicines are highly prevalent in the rural and native communities of several developing countries [28].

 According to information collected from the World Health Organization, about 80% of the global population relies upon traditional remedies [29].

 Medicinal plants have always been recognized as a major source of raw materials for both conventional and traditional medicines [30]. 

In India, the poor and rural residents are dependent upon natural herbal remedies since they are easily obtainable to them. Indeed, plant-based medicines are the sole source of medical management for people living in remote areas. 

In countries such as Russia, Africa, and a few European countries, ethnomedicines are being studied by various botanists, anthropologists, folklorists, and medical scientists [27]. 

The inability for people to access adequate healthcare, alongside financial restrictions, has resulted in the under-provision of modern health care for a majority of the people in underdeveloped countries. [31].

 Numerous folk remedies are recorded as being effective in treating various diseases (such as digestive tract disorders, skin diseases, renal and liver diseases, malaria, ulcers, heart diseases, pneumonia, diabetes, and many others), and thus, even developed countries have also considered utilizing these medicines [32

Ref Molecules. 2022 Jul 3;27(13):4278. doi: 10.3390/molecules27134278

Pharmacologically Active Phytomolecules Isolated from Traditional Antidiabetic Plants and Their Therapeutic Role for the Management of Diabetes Mellitus

Prawej Ansari 1,2,*, Samia Akther 1, J M A Hannan 1, Veronique Seidel 3, Nusrat Jahan Nujat 1, Yasser H A Abdel-Wahab 2

Editors: Rudolf Bauer, Jelena S Katanic Stankovic