Ethnomedicine

Ethnomedicine is a study or comparison of the <a href="/facts/Traditional_medicine/WLUmXCHz">traditional medicine</a> based on bioactive compounds in plants and animals and practiced by various <a href="/facts/Ethnic_group/XSp5l24t">ethnic groups</a>, especially those with little access to western medicines, e.g., <a href="/facts/Indigenous_peoples/zyzBMXBS">indigenous peoples</a>. The word ethnomedicine is sometimes used as a <a href="/facts/Synonym/a3BgMcdu">synonym</a> for traditional medicine. 
Ethnomedical research is <a href="/facts/Interdisciplinarity/HP0uaNUs">interdisciplinary</a>; in its study of traditional medicines, it applies the methods of <a href="/facts/Ethnobotany/VRLwdGea">ethnobotany</a> and <a href="/facts/Medical_anthropology/pqVmAtXx">medical anthropology</a>. Often, the medicine traditions it studies are preserved only by <a href="/facts/Oral_tradition/0hzwefby">oral tradition</a>. In addition to plants, some of these traditions constitute significant <a href="/facts/Human_interactions_with_insects/LL0okkQa">interactions with insects</a> on the Indian Subcontinent, in <a href="/facts/Human_interactions_with_insects_in_Africa/fqN6oanx">Africa</a>, or elsewhere around the globe.
Scientific ethnomedical studies constitute either <a href="/facts/Anthropology/W6WK1C3a">anthropological research</a> or <a href="/facts/Drug_discovery/LLdDNvjy">drug discovery</a> research. Anthropological studies examine the cultural perception and context of a traditional medicine. Ethnomedicine has been used as a starting point in drug discovery, specifically those using <a href="/facts/Reverse_pharmacology/RE6mLA7s">reverse pharmacological</a> techniques.

Ethnomedicine open-in-new

Ethnomedicine