La Paz, Feb 26 (EFE) .- Huira huira, eucalyptus or matico are some of the plants that many Bolivians have used to combat the symptoms of covid-19, but also to cure the ills of the soul, such as sadness, which are part of the ancestral knowledge that remains as a legacy in traditional medicine in Bolivia.
Despite the fact that this ancestral knowledge does not have scientific support, some of the Bolivians trusted in these two years of pandemic in the benefits of plants and in the wisdom of traditional doctors who have inherited this knowledge transmitted for generations.
In addition, the Government supports and encourages the application of traditional medicine and even issued a decree in 2020 that promotes the use of this ancestral knowledge and published a guide for addressing this knowledge in the treatment of covid-19.
“The government of Luis Arce has shown that you cannot govern without listening to the people and the people treasure the knowledge of their traditional medicine,” Health Minister Jeyson Auza told Efe.
He highlighted the use of these plants, especially in the first wave of the pandemic, when there were still no vaccines against covid-19, and people turned to using traditional medicine.
THE PLANTS
In the tourist area of the “Mercado de las Brujas” in the city of La Paz, women known as “chifleras” exhibit a variety of plants, flowers and natural ointments that are used to relieve all kinds of pain.
Some stalls carry signs informing people that they have “medicine for covid-19”, a concoction that vendors call “kari kari”, which is the combination of various plants and other “secret ingredients” that they sell in a bottle, told Efe Salomé, one of the “chifleras”.
The plants that sell the most are eucalyptus, huira huira and matico, these help the lungs, and they are consumed in infusions or vapors are also made to disinfect a space.
Andrés, who preferred not to give his last name, told Efe that before he got sick he did not believe in traditional medicine, but that when he contracted covid-19 and had difficulty breathing, he chose to try the benefits of plants through infusions, that he assures that they helped him a lot in his recovery.
Other people go to the chifleras to relieve the pain of the soul, such as sadness or “love it”, which in several cases leaves this disease when a relative dies and they buy “valerian root” or lavender to help them overcome the moment. .
The traditional medicine approach guide for covid-19 issued by the Ministry of Health brings together the properties, method of preparation and contraindications of around 100 plants that are used to strengthen the immune system, help the lungs and throat and fight fever, among others.
Some of the plants mentioned are the cupesí, whose resin should be consumed for its expectorant properties, or the mamuri leaves, which help reduce fever as well as the ayrampo seeds, while the amañoco, which is a tuber that is made boiling helps improve the lungs, according to the guide.
LIVING MEDICINE
The director of Traditional Medicine of the Ministry of Health, Viviana Camacho, explained to Efe that traditional medicine is the “strength of the peoples” who share their knowledge that is part of their life systems.
“Our different peoples have responded from their ancestral knowledge by demonstrating its efficacy and effectiveness in the territory, that means that it is living, effective, low-cost and highly effective medicine,” said the director.
He also argued that it is not about contrasting conventional “pill” medicine with traditional medicine, but rather that they can be complemented.
Asked if traditional medicine cures or relieves symptoms, for example of covid-19, the director maintained that “both”, that she has seen in person cases that recovered using only medicinal plants and that there are others who complemented their treatments with this knowledge.
“We are not saying that it is about this or that, but we are once again seeing that a dialogue of knowledge is needed,” he stressed.
Camacho said that there are at least 700 registered traditional doctors in the country, but that there are many more and that they are working so that all of them are certified.
The Government recognized in 2013 with the Bolivian Ancestral Traditional Medicine Law the exercise of these treatments.
Bolivia has accumulated more than 880,000 cases of covid-19 and more than 21,000 deaths since the pandemic began in 2020 and is in the de-escalation of the fourth wave of infections.