Uso de Plantas medicinais pela população do município de Araçagi-Paraíba.

Abstract

Medicinal plants are those capable of alleviate or to cure diseases and have tradition of use as medicinal drug in a population or community. The practice of use of medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes is very old and dates from the beginnings of human civilization, being widely spread by traditional communities. The present work had the objective of analyzing the utilization of medicinal plants by residentsfrom the city of Araçagi, as a means of knowing and investigating the use of this practice, the thesis is characterized as a Field research, descriptive and qualitative approach, using a socio-economic questionnaire and semi-structured interview, with specific questions for data collection, fifteen questionnaires were applied in the urban area and fifteen questionnaires in the rural area to tackle a user profiles of medicinal plants in these localities. The number of individuals Intrerviewed were Twenty-one female and nine males from different age groups, levels of schooling and income. The analysis was peformed through the software statistical package SPSS 20.0, using the descriptive and inferential statistics. As criteria of inclusion for the research the interviewed must had over eighteen years old, live in the cittyand to agree with the Term of Free and Informed Consent (TCLE). It was concluded that the use of medicinal plants by the population is significant due to the obtain facility of these plants, their preparation and use, as well as the difficulty of access to conventional medicines, the lack of professional assistance, the complexity of access to hospitals and the low financial condition of the interviewed.