Ethnomedicine is a study or comparison of the
traditional medicine based on bioactive compounds in plants and animals and practiced by various
ethnic groups, especially those with little access to western medicines, e.g.,
indigenous peoples. The word ethnomedicine is sometimes used as a
synonym for traditional medicine.[1]
Scientific ethnomedical studies constitute either
anthropological research or
drug discovery research. Anthropological studies examine the cultural perception and context of a traditional medicine. Ethnomedicine has been used as a starting point in drug discovery, specifically those using
reverse pharmacological techniques.
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abAcharya, Deepak and Shrivastava Anshu: Indigenous Herbal Medicines: Tribal Formulations and Traditional Herbal Practices. Aavishkar Publishers Distributor, Jaipur / India 2008,
ISBN978-81-7910-252-7, p. 440.
^Thomas M. Johnson; Carolyn F. Sargent (1996). "Ethnopharmacology: The Conjunction of Medical Ethnography and the Biology of Therapeutic Action". Medical Anthropology: Contemporary Theory and Method. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. pp. 132–133, 151.
Willem, Jean-Pierre (2006). L'Ethnomédecine, une alliance entre science et tradition [Ethnomedicine: An Alliance Between Science and Tradition] (in French). Paris: Jouvence & Biocontact.
ISBN978-2-88353-472-8.