Plantas medicinais na saúde da mulher em comunidades quilombolas no Brasil: diversidade, uso e conservação.

Abstract

We sought to identify and understand the traditional practices of medicinal plant use in women's health care in an Afro-descendant context and to investigate traditional practices in a quilombola community in the municipality of Abaetetuba, state of Pará, as well as contribute to the documentation, valorization, and conservation of Amazonian biodiversity. Two manuscripts were prepared. Chapter I, “Literature review on the knowledge of the use of medicinal plants in the health care of Brazilian quilombola women”, presents the theoretical framework of the study. The review consulted secondary data available from 24 articles published between 2000 and 2021 that directly addressed traditional knowledge in quilombola communities. A database was then constructed containing information on 117 medicinal species used for women's health in 40 quilombola communities established in the Caatinga (49 species), Atlantic Forest (44), Cerrado (29), and Amazonian (26) phytophysiognomies. Chapter II, “Medicinal plants used in women's health care in a quilombola community in the eastern Amazon”, reports on interviews with 100 residents concerning their botanical knowledge, as well as the collection of botanical material from the farms and forests of Ramal Piratuba, in Abaetetuba. Generalized Linear Models (using R software) to analyze variations in the ethnobotanical knowledge of those residents as a function of the variables age, gender, and education. The “EthnobotanyR” package was used to evaluate the following ethnobotanical indices: Usage Reports (URs); Number of Uses (NUs); Citation Frequency Index (CFs); Cultural Importance Index (CIs); and Fidelity Level (FL). Additionally, medicinal species were analyzed in terms of their origins, conservation statuses, and Conservation Priority Indices. One hundred and fifteen plant species were cited by the interviewees to treat 98 health problems, including genital care and additional comprehensive symptoms such as infections and pain. Medicinal plants are associated with various women's health treatments, and additional research focusing on the ethno-pharmacological uses of these plants would contribute to the documentation of traditional practices as well as provide pharmacological evidence for their effectiveness and toxicological safety.