Use of medicinal plants by the inhabitants of Artemisa

OBJECTIVE: To identify aspects related to the use of medicinal plants by five hundred inhabitants of Artemisa, Havana province, that volunteered to and gave their previous informed consent for the application of the instrument. Some variables of interest were analyzed. METHODS: A descriptional, prospective and cross-sectional study was conducted. RESULTS: The inhabitants of Artemisa know about the research topic. They utilize a great number of plants, whose use is not authorized by the Ministry of Public Health. There is no a specific way to prepare them. Most of them take these plants to fight diseases or ailments related to the mystic-religious use. The healer was the main prescriber. CONCLUSIONS: Once more, it was proved that the resolving power human beings have conferred to plants, linked with mystic-religious rituals, since ancient times, has come to our days in our locality. The use of the plants described in this paper influence directly on the daily life, the customs and the health of the community(AU)