Indigenous Health Knowledge Systems in the Philippines

Indigenous Health Knowledge Systems in the Philippines

A Literature Survey

by Alana Gorospe Ramos and Pedrito dela Cruz

Definitions

Indigenous knowledge

- unique, traditional and local knowledge existing within and developed around specific conditions of women and men indigenous to a particular geographic area (IDRC, 2005)

- the basis for community-level decision-making in areas pertaining to food security, human and animal health, education, natural resource management and other vital economic and social activities (Gorjestani, WB 2000)

THREATS to IK

Socio-economic and political changes and global processes of rapid changeSocialization of indigenous peoples into the mainstream culture dominated by western science and symbols, rather than their own indigenous cultures, wherein they stand to lose an invaluable part of their heritage and knowledge systems (Castro-Palaganas 2001)Capacity and facilities needed to document, evaluate, validate, protect and disseminate such knowledge are lacking (SciDev 2005)

Value of Indigenous Health Knowledge Systems in the Philippines

Diversity of IK cultural practices that includes indigenous health knowledge systems.

- 110 ethnolinguistic groups with more than 12 million people

- 12,000 species of plants, from which 1,500 species are used by

traditional herbalists

Low access to the formal health care system by people in remote areas

To identify important indigenous or traditional health systems studies and researches, with focus on traditional medicine, existing in pre-selected libraries and information centers in Metro Manila

To provide an overview of indigenous or traditional medicine documentation in the Philippines;

To document and organize IK information resources

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

METHODOLOGY

1. Key informant interviews

2. Documents search in libraries, information centers and thru the internet

Historical Milestones of TradMed in the Philippines

Spanish Period - Earliest document is an unpublished

treatise on indigenous medicinal pants written by a Franciscan around 1611

- Fr. Blanco’s Flora de Filipinas (1737, 1845, 1877)

- Dr. Pardo de Tavera’s Plantas Medicinales de Filipinas (1892


American Period - characterized by scientific vigor

- establishment of the Government Laboratories (Bureau of Science)- intensive research on chemical constituents, pharmacology and therapeutics of medicinal plants by UP


Commonwealth Period

- extension of surveys to regions not previously explored

- clinical and chemical investigations were made though in a limited

scale


Japanese Occupation

- Impetus given to the cultivation of medicinal plants

- E.O. 14 creating a committee on medicinal plants for the

purpose of local production and manufacture of medicines from herbs


Immediate Post World War II Period

- First major exhaustive work on medicinal plants by a Filipino - Quisumbing’s Medicinal Plants of

the Philippines, 1951


Contemporary Period (1970 – present)- establishment of Community-Based

Health Programs (CBHPs) in the early 70s which promoted the use of indigenous knowledge and resources for primary health care

- creation of the National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants (NIRPROMP) in 1977


Technology transfer from NIRPROMP to the private sector for the production of 7 herbs into commercial formCreation of TradMed Unit at DOH in 1992RA 8423 creating the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) Inclusion of survey questions on KAP towards TradMed in the 1998 and 2003 National Demographic and Health Surveys of NSO

SURVEY OF LITERATURE

A. Socio-Cultural Aspects of Indigenous Medicine 1. F.L. Jocano’s Folk Medicine in a Philippine Municipality (1973)

- an ethnographic account of folk medicine among peasants in Bay, Laguna

2. M. L.Tan’s Usog, Kulam, Pasma (1987) - formulated theoretical typologies of illness

causation based on the literature

SURVEY OF LITERATURE: Socio-Cultural Aspects of Indigenous Medicine

3. Department of Health (DOH)-Community Medicine Foundation (COMMED), Filipino Traditional Medicine Comprehensive Database Project, 1995

- included an annotated bibliography consisting of ethnographic, historical and

pharmacological literatures

- derived six major themes in traditional medicine in the Philippines based on literature and results of the mapping of 191 TradMed practitioners, their

demographics, healing practices and philosophy, as well as their distribution and networking


4. Isidro Sia and NIH Study Group Documentation of 15 Ethnolinguistic Groups and their Traditional Medicine Practices

- focused on 15 ethnolinguistic groups in the Cordilleras, Palawan, other parts of

Luzon, and Mindanao


5. Int’l. Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), Indigenous Knowledge and Practices on Mother and Child Care: Experiences from Southeast Asia and China (2000)

- contains extensive discussions of maternal and child care in different cultural settings in the Philippines as well as other parts of Asia- chapter on retrieval, documentation and use of IK, with most of the cases based on community level initiatives in the Philippines


6. Planta’s master’s thesis on the development of traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia in the 16th to the 19th centuries (1999)

- attempts to portray Filipino culture and society through its traditional

medical and healing practices

SURVEY OF LITERATURE – Medicinal Plants Inventory

B. Medicinal Plants Inventory

1. E. Quisumbing’s Medicinal Plants of the Philippines, 1951

- regarded as one of the earliest and most authoritative texts on medicinal plants

2. UP Botanical Society’s Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants (1977)

- sought to enlighten people of the potential healing properties of local medicinal plants, with sections divided according to medicinal properties of plants


2. M. L. Tan’s Philippine Medicinal Plants in Common Use: Their Phytochemistry and Pharmacology (1977)

- discusssed more than 200 plants; each plant entry is accompanied by its scientific and local name, a brief description of the plant and suggested preparations and uses


3. Leonardo Co’s Common Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Region (1984)

- covers 122 species of common medicinal plants found in the Cordillera region

4. Quintana’s Philippine Medicinal Plant: Abstract and Bibliography (1989)

- collated and organized references on medicinal plants resources from the UPLB campus’ libraries as well as other private l libraries


5. Ludivina de Padua’s Medicinal Plants (1996)

- conceived to be a series of several booklets that “approaches plant science from the ecological perspective rather than purely taxonomic”

SURVEY OF LITERATURE – Pharmacological Studies of Philippine Medicinal Plants

1. Jaime Zaguirre’s Some Emergency Bedside Preparations of Most Common Local Medicinal Plants (1955)

- written in 1944 and re-circulated in 1949 primarily among the Medical Field

Service of the AFP

2. Dr. Jocelyn Cruz, Herbal Medicine-A Viable Alternative for the Filipino People (1985)

- documents early pharmacologic tests undertaken by Dr. Alfredo C.

Santos in 1927

3. NIRPROMP-led pharmacologic research

- documentation of rapid screening process to study the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants,

then the agricultural, pharmaceutical and clinical trials of plants that have passed initial screening

4. Departments of Pharmacology of the University of the East and UP Manila, Pharmacologic studies done by students

SURVEY OF LITERATURE – Pharmacological Studies of Philippine Medicinal Plants

1. Segismundo’s Filipino Traditional Medicine and the Development of a Relevant Health Care System (1994)

- critiqued the weaknesses of the health care system and cited efforts through NGOs and the CBHPs for the integration of TradMed

2. Castro-Palaganas, et. al., Mainstreaming Indegenous Health Knowledge and Practices (2001)

- specific focus on indigenous notions of health or kasalun-alan and the women’s life cycle

SURVEY OF LITERATURE – Mainstreaming Traditional Medicine


3. M. L. Tan’s Traditional Medical Practitioners (1992)

- showed the different types of traditional medical practitioners, their socio-geographic characteristics, skills acquisition, methods of diagnosis and healing

4. NSO’s National Demographic and Health Surveys (1998, 2003)

- included questions on the knowledge, attitude and practices of Filipinos towards traditional medicine


5. Various handbooks on medicinal plants produced by government, NGOs and academic institutions

- information on medicinal plants and their therapeutic uses aimed at re- educating health workers, trainors and community members

CONCLUSIONS

Good number of ethnographic and pharmacologic literatures exist

Theoretical and more inter-disciplinary studies that link traditional medicine to discourses in culture theory or social theory are few

Lack of literature or policy documents on the workings of the folkloric-commercial sector and their implications to health and safety

RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop and finance a research agenda on traditional medicine that taps on the core competencies of various agencies and stakeholders Harness the results of bio-medical or pharmacological

research for PHC Encourage discourses towards the development of a

cognitive framework for understanding the social-anthropological context of traditional medical practices and beliefs

RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop and finance a research agenda on traditional medicine that taps on the core competencies of various agencies and stakeholders Promote safety in the use and practice traditional

medicine Examine the workings of the “folk sector” and their

implications to health and safety Encourage and enable participation of communities

in the documentation of their traditional medicine practices and beliefs

RECOMMENDATIONS

Establish a strong medical anthropology program that will rationalize and invigorate the generation, processing and management of indigenous health knowledge