Do pharmaceuticals displace local knowledge and use of medicinal plants? Estimates from a cross-sectional study in a rural indigenous community, Mexico.

Researchers examining the relationships between traditional medicine and biomedicine have observed two conflicting tendencies. Some suggest that the use of biomedicine and biomedical concepts displaces the use of traditional medicine and medical beliefs. Other scholars have found that traditional medicine and biomedicine can co-exist, complement, and blend with each other. In this paper we use an econometric model and quantitative data to test the association between individual knowledge of pharmaceuticals and individual knowledge of medicinal plants. We use data from a survey among 136 household heads living in a rural indigenous community in Oaxaca, Mexico. Data were collected as a part of long term fieldwork conducted between April 2005 and August 2006 and between December 2006 and April 2007. We found a significant positive association between an individual's knowledge of medicinal plants and the same individual's knowledge of pharmaceuticals, as well as between her use of medicinal plants and her use of pharmaceuticals. We also found a negative association between the use of medicinal plants and schooling. Our results suggest that, in the study site, individual knowledge of medicinal plants and individual knowledge of pharmaceuticals co-exist in a way which might be interpreted as complementary. We conclude that social organization involved in the use of medicines from both traditional medicine and biomedicine is of particular significance, as our findings suggest that the use of pharmaceuticals alone is not associated with a decline in knowledge/use of medicinal plants.

Popular medicine and self-care in a Mexican migrant community: toward an explanation of an epidemiological paradox.

While Hispanics are among the most economically disadvantaged groups in the United States, immigrants from Latin America have health profiles equal to or better than Americans of European descent. Research on this epidemiological paradox suggests that aspects of Hispanic culture prevent negative health outcomes associated with poverty, poor education, and barriers to professional care. However, little attention has been given to the ethnomedical beliefs and practices of any Hispanic subgroup. Here I present an ethnographic study of women's popular medicine in a Mexican migrant community in Athens, Georgia. Migrant women promote healthy behaviors, diagnose sick family members, and prescribe home remedies. These practices stem from long traditions of self-medication and family care, which have experienced less disruption by the biomedical profession than have other North American popular medical systems. Examining Mexican popular medicine within the context of scientific literature suggests that these self-care practices protect health and should be considered by investigators of the "Hispanic health paradox." The study also suggests that directing more attention to self-care will be fruitful for medical anthropology.