O conhecimento tradicional no processo de conservação da biodiversidade: um olhar sobre as contribuições dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde

Abstract

Medicinal plants play a prominent role in maintaining peoples' health. Primary health care is recommended as the main gateway to the Unified Health System (SUS). The Ministry of Health (MS) proposed the Family Health Program (PSF) as a health care information strategy. These proposals introduce a new actor in the health scenario, the Community Health Agent (CHA), playing a role in primary care, by acting as a link between the community and the health service, and also facilitating the health education process to medicinal plants. In this sense, the objective of the present study is to reveal the knowledge and perception of the CHA on the use of medical plans with etonobotanical survey of these with therapeutic effect in their communities of operation in the Municipality of Humaitá/AM. The methodology used is based on qualitative and quantitative research. The techniques include semi-structured interviews and guided tours in communities, the socioeconomic profile of 49 CHA from the rural perimeter of the total of 56, and 16 community dwellers on the banks of the Madeira River and Lago do Uruapiara indicated by the CHA as references in traditional medicine. Most CHA belong to the female gender (63%), aged between 30 and 39 years old and complete high school (77%). Community women were all female, with 50% aged between 60 and 80 years old, with the illiteracy rate at 56%. 174 species with therapeutic purposes belonging to 54 families were mentioned, especially Lamiaceae, Asteraceae and Euphorbiaceae. Among the species surveyed, Himatanthus sucuuba (sucuba), Copaifera langsdorffii (copaiba), Kalanchoe pinnata (scales of piraruco/corama) and Petiveria alliacea L. (mucura-caá) stood out as the most versatile. The therapeutic indications mentioned were grouped into 18 categories of body systems, of which diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue and diseases of the digestive system showed greater agreement between CHA and community in the use of species to treat a specific body system. No community follows criteria to recommend the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and neither does 60% of CHA. The results showed a high wealth of knowledge of the local medicinal flora, outlining the role of the CHA as a facilitator of the integration between the safe use of popular knowledge in conciliation with the scientific basis, contributing to the sustainability and enhancement of the local biodiversity.