Throughout the developing world, resource-poor farmers (about 1.4 billion people) located in risk-prone, marginal environments, remain untouched by modern agricultural technology.
ackground International studies of the health of Indigenous and tribal peoples provide important public health insights. Reliable data are required for the development of policy and health services. Previous studies document poorer outcomes for Indigenous peoples compared with benchmark populations, but have been restricted in their coverage of countries or the range of health indicators.
In the UK there may be up to 15 000 avoidable deaths from cancer every year in people over the age of 75 years. A study presented last week at the National Cancer Intelligence Network annual conference highlights the disparity in cancer mortality rates between the UK and 11 European countries and the USA.
This review is the second in a series on Indigenous health, covering different regions and issues. We look briefly at the current state of Indigenous health in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region with over 400 different indigenous groups and a total population of 45 to 48 million people.
Ethnopharmacological relevance: Neem (Azadirachta indica; Meliaceae) is widely known for its cold pressed seed oil, mainly used as insecticide, but also for cosmetic, medicinal and agricultural uses.
: Many species of the Caatinga flora are used as medicines in local communities. In recent decades, the knowledge and use of these species has been expanding within this region.
Indigenous uses of Azadirachta indica A. juss (Maliaceae) (locally known as neem) leaves in different parts of India for curing gastrointestinal disorder such as diarrhea and cholera is wide spread.
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a crisis in human health resources due to a critical shortage of health workers. The shortage is compounded by a high burden of infectious diseases; emigration of trained professionals; difficult working conditions and low motivation.
It is well-known that humans have used medicinal plants for millennia, but as a defined field of scientific research called ethnopharmacology, it has a relatively short history.
In the wake of multinationals dominating the world genetic pool of natural resources without minding the consequences thereof, the paper intends to look at the issues of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the overriding intellectual property rights as pro-moted by Western governments and existing international regimes such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the defunct proposed Plant Varie