indigenous health knowledge

8/10/2019 Indigenous Health Knowledge

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Indigenous Health Knowledge

Systems in the Philippines

A Literature Survey

byAlana Gorospe Ramos and Pedrito dela Cruz


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THREATS to IK

Socio-economic and political changes and globalprocesses of rapid change

Socialization of indigenous peoples into themainstream culture dominated by western scienceand symbols, rather than their own indigenouscultures, wherein they stand to lose an invaluable

part of their heritage and knowledge systems(Castro-Palaganas 2001)

Capacity and facilities needed to document,evaluate, validate, protect and disseminate suchknowledge are lacking (SciDev 2005)


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Value of Indigenous Health Knowledge

Systems in the Philippines

Diversity of IK cultural practices that includes

indigenous health knowledge systems.

- 110 ethnolinguistic groups with more

than 12 million people

- 12,000 species of plants, from which

1,500 species are used by traditionalherbalists

Low access to the formal health care system by

people in remote areas


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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To identify important indigenous or traditional

health systems studies and researches, with focus on

traditional medicine, existing in pre-selected

libraries and information centers in Metro ManilaTo provide an overview of indigenous or

traditional medicine documentation in the

Philippines;

To document and organize IK information

resources


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METHODOLOGY

1.Key informant interviews

2. Documents search in libraries, information

centers and thru the internet


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Historical Milestones of TradMed in the

Philippines

Spanish Period- Earliest document is an unpublished treatise

on indigenous medicinal pants written by a

Franciscan around 1611- Fr. Blancos Flora de Filipinas (1737, 1845,

1877)

- Dr. Pardo de Taveras Plantas Medicinales

de Filipinas (1892


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Philippines

American Period- characterized by scientific vigor

- establishment of the GovernmentLaboratories (Bureau of Science)

- intensive research on chemical

constituents, pharmacology andtherapeutics of medicinal plants by UP


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Philippines

Commonwealth Period

- extension of surveys to regions not

previously explored

- clinical and chemical investigations

were made though in a limited scale


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Philippines

Japanese Occupation

- Impetus given to the cultivation of

medicinal plants

- E.O. 14 creating a committee on

medicinal plants for the purpose of

local production and manufacture ofmedicines from herbs


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Philippines

Immediate Post World War II Period

- First major exhaustive work on medicinal

plants by a Filipino - Quisumbings

Medicinal Plants of the Philippines,1951


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Philippines

Contemporary Period (1970 present)

- establishment of Community-Based HealthPrograms (CBHPs) in the early 70s which

promoted the use of indigenous knowledgeand resources for primary health care

- creation of the National Integrated Research

Program on Medicinal Plants (NIRPROMP)in 1977


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Philippines

Technology transfer from NIRPROMP to theprivate sector for the production of 7 herbs intocommercial form

Creation of TradMed Unit at DOH in 1992RA 8423 creating the Philippine Institute ofTraditional and Alternative Health Care

(PITAHC)Inclusion of survey questions on KAP towardsTradMed in the 1998 and 2003 National

Demographic and Health Surveys of NSO


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SURVEY OF LITERATURE

A. Socio-Cultural Aspects of IndigenousMedicine

1. F.L. JocanosFolk Medicine in a Philippine

Municipality (1973)- an ethnographic account of folk medicineamong peasants in Bay, Laguna

2. M. L.Tans Usog, Kulam, Pasma (1987)- formulated theoretical typologies of illness

causation based on the literature


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SURVEY OF LITERATURE: Socio-

Cultural Aspects of Indigenous Medicine

3. Department of Health (DOH)-Community Medicine

Foundation (COMMED),Filipino TraditionalMedicine Comprehensive Database Project, 1995

- included an annotated bibliography consisting of

ethnographic, historical and pharmacologicalliteratures

- derived six major themes in traditional medicine in

the Philippines based on literature and results of themapping of 191 TradMed practitioners, theirdemographics, healing practices and philosophy, aswell as their distribution and networking


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4. Isidro Sia and NIH Study Group

Documentation of 15 Ethnolinguistic Groups

and their Traditional Medicine Practices

- focused on 15 ethnolinguistic groups in theCordilleras, Palawan, other parts of Luzon,

and Mindanao


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5. Intl. Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR),

Indigenous Knowledge and Practices on Motherand Child Care: Experiences from Southeast Asiaand China (2000)

- contains extensive discussions of maternaland child care in different cultural settings inthe Philippines as well as other parts of Asia

- chapter on retrieval, documentation and useof IK, with most of the cases based oncommunity level initiatives in the Philippines


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6. Plantasmasters thesis on the development of

traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia in the

16thto the 19thcenturies (1999)

- attempts to portray Filipino culture andsociety through its traditional medical and

healing practices


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SURVEY OF LITERATURE Medicinal

Plants Inventory

B. Medicinal Plants Inventory

1. E. Quisumbings Medicinal Plants of thePhilippines, 1951

- regarded as one of the earliest and mostauthoritative texts on medicinal plants

2. UP Botanical SocietysManual on Some

Philippine Medicinal Plants (1977)- sought to enlighten people of the potential healingproperties of local medicinal plants, with sectionsdivided according to medicinal properties of plants


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Plants Inventory

2. M. L. TansPhilippine Medicinal Plants in

Common Use: Their Phytochemistry and

Pharmacology (1977)

- discusssed more than 200 plants; each plantentry is accompanied by its scientific and local

name, a brief description of the plant and

suggested preparations and uses


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Plants Inventory

3. Leonardo Cos Common Medicinal Plants of

the Cordillera Region (1984)

- covers 122 species of common medicinal

plants found in the Cordillera region

4. Quintanas Philippine Medicinal Plant:

Abstract and Bibliography (1989)

- collated and organized references on

medicinal plants resources from the UPLB

campus libraries as well as other private llibraries


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Plants Inventory

5. Ludivina de PaduasMedicinal Plants (1996)

- conceived to be a series of several booklets

that approaches plant science from the ecological

perspective rather than purely taxonomic



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Pharmacological Studies of Philippine

Medicinal Plants

1. Jaime Zaguirres Some Emergency Bedside

Preparations of Most Common Local MedicinalPlants (1955)

- written in 1944 and re-circulated in 1949

primarily among the Medical Field Service

of the AFP

2.Dr. Jocelyn Cruz, Herbal Medicine-A ViableAlternative for the Filipino People (1985)

- documents early pharmacologic tests

undertaken by Dr. Alfredo C. Santos in1927



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Pharmacological Studies of Philippine

Medicinal Plants

3. NIRPROMP-led pharmacologic research

- documentation of rapid screening process to study

the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants, then the

agricultural, pharmaceutical and clinical trials of

plants that have passed initial screening

4. Departments of Pharmacology of the University of

the East and UP Manila, Pharmacologic studies done

by students


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Mainstreaming Traditional Medicine

1. SegismundosFilipino Traditional Medicine and the

Development of a Relevant Health Care System(1994)

- critiqued the weaknesses of the health care

system and cited efforts through NGOs and the

CBHPs for the integration of TradMed

2. Castro-Palaganas, et. al., MainstreamingIndegenous Health Knowledge and Practices (2001)

- specific focus on indigenous notions of health or

kasalun-alan and the womens life cycle


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3. M. L. Tans Traditional Medical Practitioners

(1992)- showed the different types of traditional

medical practitioners, their socio-geographic

characteristics, skills acquisition, methods ofdiagnosis and healing

4. NSOsNational Demographic and HealthSurveys (1998, 2003)

- included questions on the knowledge,attitude and practices of Filipinos towardstraditional medicine


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5. Various handbooks on medicinal plants

produced by government, NGOs and

academic institutions

- information on medicinal plants andtheir therapeutic uses aimed at re-

educating health workers, trainors andcommunity members


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CONCLUSIONSGood number of ethnographic and pharmacologic

literatures exist

Theoretical and more inter-disciplinary studies

that link traditional medicine to discourses inculture theory or social theory are few

Lack of literature or policy documents on the

workings of the folkloric-commercial sector andtheir implications to health and safety


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RECOMMENDATIONSDevelop and finance a research agenda on

traditional medicine that taps on the core

competencies of various agencies and

stakeholders

Harness the results of bio-medical or pharmacological

research for PHC

Encourage discourses towards the development of acognitive framework for understanding the social-

anthropological context of traditional medical practices

and beliefs


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RECOMMENDATIONS

Establish a strong medical anthropology

program that will rationalize and

invigorate the generation, processing and

management of indigenous healthknowledge