Abstract
Ethnopharmacy is the study on herbs or plants that certain ethnic groups practice for treating particular illness. Scientific reporting of beneficial therapeutic plants through this study could promote further development of herbal medicines. We conducted an ethnopharmacy study at several villages of Osing tribe located in Banyuwangi, Indonesia, to identify plants that have the potential to be tested for certain bioactivity, in this case, for COVID-19 therapy. The snowball and purposive sampling methods using qualitative and quantitative research with semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were applied for this study. The parameters used were the Use Value (UV), Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), and Fidelity Level (FL). The plants used in this study were obtained and determined at Balai Konservasi Tumbuhan Kebun Raya Purwodadi, the Indonesian Institute of Science. The results were then followed by the literature study on the plants’ potential for COVID-19 therapy. Plant exploration was obtained by considering the results of UV calculation. Based on UV calculations in ethnopharmacy studies, there are several plants that are considered essential and have more efficacies. They are temulawak, turmeric, suruh, gigen-gigen, mating, anggrek merpati and pace. Three of the eight plants potentially possess immunomodulatory activity that can be used to prevent the infections of SARS-CoV-2. They are the temulawak (Curcuma xanthorrhiza), turmeric (Curcuma domestica) and gigen-gigen (Centella asiatica).
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to infect and claim lives of humans worldwide
Increasing one’s immunity is one of the best ways to prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This can be done by consuming immunostimulants made from natural ingredients that will improve the health
With the development of times, the process of inheriting knowledge related to traditional medicine is feared to experience erosion (Rosita et al, 2015)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to infect and claim lives of humans worldwide. Increasing one’s immunity is one of the best ways to prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus This can be done by consuming immunostimulants made from natural ingredients that will improve the health. The science that can be used to obtain local knowledge on how to process natural ingredients into a nutritious medicine is ethnopharmacy. Ethnopharmacy is the study of how to treat and use drugs by certain tribes, the scope of which includes medicine and treatment using natural ingredients (Ningsih, 2016). It is necessary to conduct an ethnopharmaceutical study in the village so that knowledge of traditional medicine is maintained, medicinal plants are documented, and knowledge about the use of medicinal plants in the Osing tribe, especially those having the potential for COVID-19 therapy is obtained
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