Conhecimento e uso de plantas medicinais no assentamento Paulo Fonteles no distrito de Mosqueiro, Belém, Pará: uma contribuição para a política nacional de plantas medicinais e fitoterápicos

Abstract

This work aimed to characterize the knowledge and use associated with medicinal plants used in the Settlement Paulo Fonteles, Mosqueiro district, Belém, Pará, to contribute to the inclusion of these in the SUS, in accordance with the National Program of Medicinal Plants and Herbal medicines. The ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews applied to 61 residents (22 men and 39 women), participant observation and guided tour. Botanical samples were collected and identified. Health problems cited were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The Consensus factor of informants (FIC) and the concordance index of Use corrected Principal (CUPC), were used to identify the categories of diseases and most important medicinal species in the community, respectively. Most respondents use medicinal plants as a first option in health care. Knowledge about medicinal plants did not differ between men and women and transmitting the same is true within families and between neighbors, which also share the plants. They recorded 140 species belonging to 126 genera and 59 families, especially Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae. It showed up a balance between native and exotic species. The woody and herbaceous species predominate, especially being obtained by cultivation. The leaves are mostly used, as well as tea is the most common method of preparation. Infectious and parasitic diseases comprise the disease category with greater consensus among informants. Ten species showed CUPc values equal to or higher than 45%. Dalbergia monetaria (veronica) had the highest number of citations and higher concordance use among employees. Most of these has some therapeutic properties attested in biological activity studies, five of these are included in RENISUS thus have to be viable for use in SUS. This research highlights the importance of medicinal plants in primary health care in the settlement Paulo Fonteles and therefore contributes much to strengthen this practice at the local level, and for the inclusion of these resources in the Basic Health Units of the Mosqueiro district.