Abstract
BackgroundIn Lao PDR, the Hmong ethnic group has extensive knowledge about the use of medicinal plants. However, despite the importance of the Hmong pharmacopeia as a primary health care resource, no study has been undertaken to thoroughly document medicinal plant knowledge and its transmission. Objectives of this study are (i) to describe and characterize Hmong pharmacopeia, and (ii) to understand how medicinal plant knowledge is transmitted and spread among Hmong in Lao PDR, in order to assess whether this knowledge base is under threat.MethodsIn order to describe Hmong pharmacopeia, a total of 14 interlocutors were interviewed in three provinces (Bokeo, Xieng Khouang, and Vientiane), using “walk in the wood” methodology. To gain insight about knowledge transmission, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 people. Twenty of them were herbalists. Data analysis was performed using univariate analysis for the description of the pharmacopeia. Medicinal plant knowledge consistency was assessed through use and plant name overlapping. Answers to the semi-structured interview on knowledge transmission were analyzed qualitatively.ResultsThree hundred thirty-three different medicinal species were collected. The majority of uses attributed to plants were gastrointestinal conditions (22% of total use reports), gynecological conditions and sexually transmitted disease (12%), skin affections (8%), kidney and bladder problems (5%), physical traumas (5%), and aphrodisiac (or male tonics; 5%). Use convergences are more marked in the gynecological sphere, but there is a strong heterogeneity in practices and knowledge. Medicinal plant knowledge transmission is oral, gained from direct experience since childhood, matrilineal, and kept strictly within the family lineage. Apparent limited consensus on uses might stem from the method of knowledge transmission and to the economic value given to medicinal plants.DiscussionUse pattern of species from the Hmong pharmacopeia does not appear to be strikingly different from the national Lao pharmacopeia. Differences may lie in the methods and reasons for knowledge transmission. It can be proposed that the economic value given to plants helps in keeping the knowledge alive, and encourages its transmission.ConclusionHmong traditional medicine is constantly evolving in a dynamic process and aims to respond to health problems faced by the local population. Herbalists appear as health fully fledged actors and should be recognized and valued as such.
Highlights
Hmong population in Lao PDR Laos is a multi-ethnic country
The authors listed 16 species widely used by Hmong herbalists, but did not mention their uses, as this paper addressed conservation issues
In a study performed in Bolikhamxay province among Lao traditional healers from the Lao-Loum ethnic group, it was found that Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, and Rutaceae had the highest number of species used medicinally [12]
Summary
Hmong population in Lao PDR Laos is a multi-ethnic country. Tai populations, of which the lowland Lao constitutes a majority in Laos, have been colonizing the lowlands since the beginning of the thirteenth century. Hmong differ very much from the Tai/Lao, the Vietnamese, the indigenous Mon-Khmer population of Laos, and the other Tibeto-Burman hill tribes of northern Laos and northern Thailand. They are a clearly identifiable group, who refer to themselves customarily as Hmong and speak dialects of the western or Chuanqiandian branch of Miao language in the Miao-Yao language family, one of the three main branches of this Miao language [1]. In Lao PDR, the Hmong ethnic group has extensive knowledge about the use of medicinal plants. Objectives of this study are (i) to describe and characterize Hmong pharmacopeia, and (ii) to understand how medicinal plant knowledge is transmitted and spread among Hmong in Lao PDR, in order to assess whether this knowledge base is under threat
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