Elaboração e organização de um workshop sobre uso popular de plantas medicinais no Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

The medicinal plants are those characterized by having therapeutic properties, through their pharmacological activity. That is, they are plants that, due to these characteristics, can help in the cure or treatment of various diseases and infirmities. These substances with pharmacological properties, when used correctly, act on the body, contributing to health promotion. Found all over the world, they have been used since antiquity, by our ancestors, for therapeutic purposes, allowing the treatment and even the cure of diseases and infirmities. This use became a habit, and with evolution, man himself became able to pass this knowledge on to his descendants, thus starting the tradition in the use of medicinal plants. Considering the importance of the use of these vegetables, together with the maintenance of this traditional knowledge, by society in the current times, the objective was to promote a methodology that allows this knowledge to be deepened, updated, in a way that it is not lost, allowing it to be passed on, contributing to the advancement of science for the benefit of society. This objective becomes capable and viable, through the realization of a “Workshop”, a learning and knowledge production tool frequently used in the most diverse professional areas, configuring itself as an event that aims to achieve this purpose. Events of this type take place based on a theme previously chosen by the organizers, aiming to learn more about the subject in question, through theoretical and practical knowledge, contributing to the development of the research area and enabling the participation of the main researchers interested in the topic, thus producing an effective exchange of knowledge. This work shows, in a detailed way, what are the necessary requirements for the elaboration and organization of a “Workshop”, which deals specifically with medicinal plants and their popular use, in the Northeast region of Brazil. In its development, a bibliographic survey was carried out, in order to obtain theoretical subsidies that provide data that show how to prepare a “Workshop”, being, at the same time, focused on the area of medicinal plants. In this context, subjects were addressed, such as: ways of using, cultivation practices and processing of medicinal plants; bioprospecting methods; extraction of medicinal plant products, among others. The elaboration of a “Workshop” on the subject allows that popular knowledge about these vegetables is not lost and that it is even associated with scientific knowledge, providing an advance in this area.