Medicina ancestral y plantas medicinales utilizadas para el resfriado común en el cantón Saraguro, Loja. 2017

Abstract

Background: at present, its culture and the use of medicinal plants to treat common diseases are preserved. Numerous studies have been carried out in order to obtain information about the plants to be used as a base to develop drugs, but they do not emphasize the cultural richness of the indigenous peoples. Objective: To describe the ancestral medicine and the medicinal plants used for the common cold in the Saraguro canton. Methodology: it is a qualitative-quantitative study, 5 people of wisdom have been interviewed in depth to saturate the information, and for the quantitative TRAMIL surveys validated in other studies and modified by the authors of the present investigation, the sample is composed 107 people of wisdom from the community. Results: the community "Las Lagunas" has a high proportion of Catholics and in constant working activity, there is a total of 9 medicinal plants used to treat the cold, which have their particularity in the preparation, which are: infusion, juice , rubbing and vaporization, the preference of its use depends on economic, social and ethnic factors; we also observe that conventional medicine is not isolated and both sciences share knowledge and information to provide better care. Conclusion: With the present investigation, it was demonstrated that the residents depend a lot on the Ancestral Medicine to maintain their physical and mental health using plants; but at the same time they do not rule out the possibility of needing medical attention in their future.