HIGHLIGHTS
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Medicinal plants play an important role in chronic diseases.
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Nurses should know the plants most used by quilombolas.
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Boldo is widely used, and there is already positive evidence.
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Plants can have an impact on quilombolas’ quality of life.
ABSTRACT
Objective:
To understand the ethnopharmacological knowledge of medicinal plants used to treat chronic diseases in a quilombola community in the Brazilian Amazon.
Method:
A crosssectional, descriptive study using a semi-structured questionnaire in a quilombola community in Macapá, Amapá (Brazil), from March to June 2022. The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics.
Results:
In the quilombola community, women are the main holders of knowledge about medicinal plants, usually acquired from their parents/grandparents. Among the various plants mentioned, boldo was the most frequently mentioned (13.78%) for treating liver diseases, followed by mastruz (6.89%) for inflammatory issues.
Conclusion:
The study’s results made it possible to understand the ethnopharmacological knowledge of phytotherapy in treating chronic non-communicable diseases and how it can act in an alternative and positive way in the clinical manifestations or complications caused by these diseases.
DESCRIPTORS:
Medicinal Plants; Ethnopharmacology; Chronic Disease; Phytotherapy; Quilombolas.