Anthropological Study of Ethno-medicine in Gash Barka Region, Western Eritrea

Abstract

The indigenous community of Gash Barka region, Western Eritrea has vast knowledge of their biodiversity. They use plant medicine to treat and prevent ailments. Their traditional therapeutic practices reveal that treatment takes a holistic approach and diseases are preventable. Whenever a person is affected, all community members are treated, with children getting smaller portion of the medicine. Also the focus of treatment is not only biological but also social and psychological. Endowed with rich biodiversity, the community uses plant medicine to treat ailments. The same medicinal plants are used to treat different ailments; different ailments are treated by same plant medicine, thus, ‘it is the cause not the symptom that is treated’. This paper is an anthropological study of traditional medicine among two indigenous Eritrean groups. Using unstructured interview method, qualitative data has been gathered from knowledgeable men and women, the custodians of the knowledge. The community’s perception of health and illness and their knowledge of plant medicine’s application is then described in detail using a descriptive method. It is concluded that traditional medicine is a life-tested knowledge of affordable/available homemade medicine with multiple values including developmental, utilizing local resources, heritage and biodiversity conservation. The significance of documenting and upgrading this time-tested knowledge for a sustainable future should not be overlooked.