In a phenomenological research study with a purposeful sample, 6 Ojibwa and Cree indigenous women healers from Canada and the United States shared their experience of being a traditional healer. Using stories obtained during open-ended, unstructured interviews, in this article I depict the lives, backgrounds, and traditional healing practices of women who, in the past, have not been afforded an...

BACKGROUND The WHO estimates that more than 80% of African populations attend traditional healers for health reasons and that 40%-60% of these have some kind of mental illness. However, little is known about the profiles and outcome of this traditional approach to treatment. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to describe the profiles and outcome of traditional healing practices for sever...

An ethnobotanical survey on traditional treatment of malaria was carried out in Mbarara District, western Uganda, a malaria-endemic area. From this study, traditional healers understood malaria symptoms. Malaria was reported to be the most common condition treated by traditional healers in this area. Plants were the single most important source of natural products used for malaria treatment. Mo...

Investigation of the traditional uses of Momordica charantia (Cucurbitaceae) in Togo (West Africa) showed that it is one of the most important local medicinal plants both for ritual and ethnomedical practices. There was a high degree of consensus (>50%) for use in the treatment of gastrointestinal and viral disease among 47 groups of village informants in the general population, while 19 tradit...

BACKGROUND Invasive alien plant species (IAPs) are plants that have migrated from one geographical region to non-native region either intentional or unintentional. The general view of IAPs in environment is regarded as destructive to the ecosystem and they pose threat to native vegetation and species. However, some of these IAPS are utilized by local inhabitants as a substitute for scarce indig...

THETA is an acronym that stands for: Traditional and modern Health practitioners Together against AIDS and other diseases. THETA is a mutually respectful collaboration between traditional healers (THs) and biomedical health practitioners (BHPs) in the fight against AIDS and other diseases. THETA begun in 1992 as a research collaboration between The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and Medicin S...

BACKGROUND Medicinal plant species contribute significantly to folk medicine in Colombia. However, few local studies have investigated whether species used are introduced or native and whether there is a difference in importance of native and introduced medicinal plant species. The aim of the present study was to describe the use of medicinal plants within two municipalities, Campo Hermoso and ...

An ethnomedicinal study was conducted in ten villages of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal during 2012-2013 to collect information from traditional health healers/tribal communities on the use of medicinal plants for treatment of gynaecological problems among the women of the Lodha community. The tribal communities residing in this region are the Santhals, Mundas, Lodhas, Bhumijs, Oraon a...