scholarly journals The ethnomedicinal plants used for human ailments at Mojana Wodera District, central Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikiyas Abebe

Abstract. Abebe M. 2021. The ethnomedicinal plants used for human ailments at Mojana Wodera District, central Ethiopia. Biodiversitas 22: 4676-4686. An ethnobotanical study was carried out from March 2020 to February 2021 in selected sites of Mojana Wodera District to assess, identifying, and document medicinal plants to treat human ailments. Purposely and volunteer sampling techniques were applied to select 73 practitioners. Of those, 10 practitioners were key informants. Data was collected from informants using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and walk-in-the-word. The collected data were entered into an excel spreadsheet for statistical analysis. ANOVA and t-test were applied to compare the knowledge of the informants in different groups. ICF and FL values were calculated to identify the most common human ailments and heal the potential of medicinal plants. The result showed that a higher average (p< 0.05) was recorded for crucial informants, illiterate and higher aged group. Still, there was a significant difference between male and female informants (p=0.032) on knowledge of medicinal plants. A total of 45 medicinal plant species (41 genera and 27 families) were identified to treat 35 types of ailments. From this total, 15.6% were endemic for Ethiopia. Family Euphorbiaceae was dominant (11.1%) for this study. In the finding, the leaf was the most widely plant part which is used to prepare remedies (29.79%), followed by root (28.72%), and the most popular remedy preparation was pounding (31.18%). A higher ICF value (0.78) was recorded for dermatological category ailments, and the highest FL (94.12%) occurred for Laggera tomentosa, which was under the therapeutic category of the throat and respiratory.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
Mohammed H. Mahklouf

Abstract This study was designed to document the use and conservation of edible wild plants in Libya. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. A total of 145 edible wild plant species were identified; of these, herbs represented the majority with 119 species. Regarding the parts used, the most consumed parts were leaves (in 64 species), followed by young shoots (in 39 species), fruits (in 35 species), seeds (in 16 species), flowers and roots (in 14 species each), and 8 species were consumed as a whole plant. Studies on the mode of consumption revealed a total of 12 ways of consumption, of which the majority were consumed raw (90 species), followed by consumption after cooking (56 species) and as a salad (41 species).


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
TEMESGEN EYILET KEBEDE

The aim of the study is to understand the dynamics of borderland conflicts in one location –Gonder, north-west Ethiopia, specifically, Metema Woreda – which lies along the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The study employed qualitative research methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, case studies, and non-participant observation. The colonial origin of the Ethio-Sudan border is the overall background to the confrontation between farmers and investors over the contested lands in the region. The continued uncertainty over the precise location of the border has aggravated conflict that has yet to be resolved.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Endang Purba ◽  
Nisyawati ◽  
Marina Silalahi

Background: Ethnomedicine can serve as a platform for studying specific relationships between indigenous cultures and using medicinal plants, thus to identify new chemical compounds used as drugs.Objective: To document the medicinal plants and traditional medicines used by Batak Karo people and to provide information on the pharmacological properties of the most commonly used plants in the preparation to treat of various ailments especially preventive healthcare.Methods: The ethnobotanical study was conducted in Merdeka sub-district, Karo regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia. An intensive field survey was conducted to collect information on medicinal plants used by the people. Data was collected applying semi-structured interviews (individual and group discussions) and questionnaires.Results: A total of 124 plants species have been documented to treat various diseases. Zingiberaceae is the highest number of species being used as traditional medicines especially concoction of preventive healthcare. The study revealed that fever is treated using the highest number of different medicinal species (23 species).Conclusion: Batak Karo people in Merdeka sub-district have a rich local knowledge about medicinal plants. It is a need to extend the documentation of medicinal plants in the area and evaluation its biological activity as a basis for developing future medicines.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-21
Author(s):  
Nadaline M. Marak ◽  
Lalnundanga

A study was conducted to enumerate the ethno-medicinal plants in Rongram block of West Garo Hills District, Meghalaya. The study was based on the primary survey and data collected through questionnaires, focus-group discussions and semi-structured interviews prepared for the purpose by approaching the local traditional healers (oja) as well as villagers. The study revealed that a total of 18 medicinal plants belonging to 18 genera and 16 families were documented. Information on local names, scientific names, family, plant parts used and traditional usage of these plants were also reported. Among the documented medicinal plant species, trees were most frequently used followed by herbs, shrubs and climbers. The study also revealed that leaves were most commonly used in the treatment followed by the bark.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asaye Asfaw ◽  
Ermias Lulekal ◽  
Tamrat Bekele ◽  
Asfaw Debella ◽  
Eyob Debebe ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: In Ethiopia, the majority of animal owners throughout the country depend on traditional healthcare practices to manage their animals’ health. Ethnoveterinary practices play significantly greater roles in livestock health care as an alternative or integral part of modern veterinary practices. This is because traditional medicines have remained the most economically affordable and easily available form of therapies for resource-poor communities. Even although, ethnoveterinary medicine is the most important and has higher acceptance and trust by the community in Ethiopia, ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and associated indigenous practices are not adequately documented. This study aimed to identify and document ethnoveterinary medicinal plants with their associated indigenous practices along with the habitats of these plants in Ensaro district.Methods: This ethnobotanical survey included 389 informants (283 males and 106 females) from all 14 kebeles of Ensaro district, which is the smallest administrative unit in Amhara Regional State's North Shewa Zone. Systematic random and intentional sampling techniques have been used to obtain representative informants. Ethnobotanical data were collected during the 13th of February 2019 and the 26th of October 2020 through Semi-structured interviews, field observation, a guided field walk, and focus group discussions.Results: We identified and recorded 44 medicinal plants belonging to 43 genera and 28 families that are used in Ensaro district to manage livestock diseases. The analysis of collected information from informants showed that shrubs constituted the highest number of species, leaves were the most highly harvested parts for the preparation of remedies and oral administration was the main route to apply medicines to treat internal diseases of livestock. Conclusion: In general, the findings of this study revealed diverse ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and associated indigenous practices about their use in the Ensaro District. The majority of farmers trust traditional ethnoveterinary medicines due to their higher efficacy, lower price, and easy availability. Data from this study can be used to preserve important medicinal plants for sustainable utilization and drug formulation.


Author(s):  
Srividhya Samakya V. ◽  
T. Subramanyam Naidu

This article aims to understand the perception of Parengi Porja’s ways of illness treatments and health management. The Parengi Porja is a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Population (PVTG), inhabiting the hilly regions of Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, India. They strongly believe in supernatural agents as being the cause of illness. For this study, the Parengi Porja tribal mothers were purposively selected from five villages situated in the study district. We used participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, case studies, and semistructured interview schedules. We conducted five focus group discussions (FGDs) to understand the reasons for illness, and its diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Data types include demographic variables, incidences of illnesses, and their management. The study shows that this tribal population has its own understanding about the illness etiology and management strategy to regain healthy life.


Author(s):  
Edina Krompák ◽  

The city of Basel is situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in the geographic triangle of three countries: France, Germany and Switzerland. Everyday urban life is characterised by the presence of Standard German and Swiss German as well as diverse migrant languages. Swiss German is ‘an umbrella term for several Alemannic dialects’ (Stepkowska 2012, 202) which differ from Standard German in terms of phonetics, semantics, lexis, and grammar and has no standard written form. Swiss German is predominantly used in oral forms, and Standard German in written communication. Furthermore, an amalgamation of bilingualism and diglossia (Stepkowska 2012, 208) distinguishes the specific linguistic situation, which indicates amongst other things the high prestige of Swiss German in everyday life. To explore the visibility and vitality of Swiss German in the public display of written language, we examined the linguistic landscape of a superdiverse neighbourhood of Basel, and investigated language power and the story beyond the sign – ‘stories about the cultural, historical, political and social backgrounds of a certain space’ (Blommaert 2013, 41). Our exploration was guided by the question: How do linguistic artefacts – such as official, commercial, and private signs – represent the diglossic situation and the relation between language and identity in Kleinbasel? Based on a longitudinal ethnographic study, a corpus was compiled comprising 300 digital images of written artefacts in Kleinbasel. Participant observation and focus group discussions about particular images were conducted and analysed using grounded theory (Charmaz 2006) and visual ethnography (Pink 2006). In our paper, we focus on signs in Swiss German and focus group discussions on these images. Initial analyses have produced two surprising findings; firstly, the visibility and the perception of Swiss German as a marker of local identity; secondly, the specific context of their display.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-201
Author(s):  
M. A. Islam ◽  
A.A. Wani ◽  
G.M. Bhat ◽  
A.A. Gatoo ◽  
Murtaza Shah ◽  
...  

Critical analyses of the perceptions on SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) have become a fundamental element of multi-criteria decision making for developing wicker handicraft entrepreneurship. The study examined the effectiveness and prioritization of entrepreneur's perceptions towards SWOT categories and factors and provided insights for developing wicker handicraft entrepreneurship in Pulwama district of Kashmir. Data were collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions of 100 wicker handicraft entrepreneurs of 20 villages selected by multi-stage random sampling. Simple descriptive statistics were used for the data analysis. Results showed that the factors like income generation (19.30%) and employment generation (19.00%) were viewed as most important strengths while labour intensive and less remunerative livelihood (18.80%) and seasonal subsistence (18.70%) were identified as main weaknesses. Further, poverty alleviation (20.70%), preservation of traditional art craft (19.00%) and improvement in public-private relations (17.50%) were adjudged as strong opportunities whereas limited marketing facilities (20.70%), lack of co-operative societies (18.90%) and harassment by officials in withies collection (16.50%) were seen as chief threats. The challenges (weaknesses and threats) (50.40%) for wicker handicraft entrepreneurship outweighed the prospects (strengths and opportunities) (49.60%) while the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) (54.80%) prevailed over the external factors (opportunities and threats) (54.20%). F statistics (p<0.05) indicated significant differences between the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats). The results projected the basis to the policymakers to prioritize and address the prominent challenges and reinforce the prospects for conceptualizing, formulating and implementing the strategies for strengthening the wicker handicraft entrepreneurship.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Bwalya Umar

This study utilized 120 semi-structured interviews with smallholder farming households and two focus group discussions; as well as several key informant interviews with experts to explore the promotion and uptake of conservation agriculture (CA) in Mufulira, Zambia. Results reveal that ridges and flat culture continued to be the preferred tillage systems (97 per cent and 55 per cent respectively) despite the farmers having been trained in the use of a minimum tillage technique. None of the interviewed farmers perceived CA as a solution to any of their agricultural related problems. The NGO promoting CA in the district had framed it as suited for and claimed to target labour constrained HIV/AIDS affected households. Conversely, farmers complained that CA was challenging for them due to its high labour demands (23 per cent); poor harvests (18 per cent) and was unsuited to the rainfall patterns of the area (10 per cent). Local agricultural experts contested the promotion of basins in Mufulira. The framing of CA as a solution to labour constraints did not seem to hold in the study area. This effectively limited the contestation spaces available to the public officials with dissenting views on the suitability of basin CA in the district.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Ugochukwu T. Ugwu

This ethnography explores the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia, an Igbo group of Southeast Nigeria, aiming to understand the mortuary rites of the Nawfia, how and why it has changed and the factors responsible for the changes. The main data collection strategy was participant observation that began in April 2014. It was supplemented with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study found Christianity as a major acculturative factor that has altered almost all the facets of the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia Igbo. Furthermore, mortuary rites do not only reinforce social solidarity among the Nawfia Igbo people but also according to what the Nawfia people believe, enable the deceased to attain his rightful position in the spirit world.


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