Diagnosis of public programs focused on herbal medicines in Brazil

Abstract

The present study is aimed to diagnose the current public programs focused on herbal medicine in Brazil where the following results can be observed. The main purpose of implementation of these programs was the demand of the users of medicinal plants and herbal medicines. The initiative of the implementation of these programs was related to the managers (58%). The difficulties in this implementation were due to lack of funding (90%) of the programs. In 80% of the programs, the physicians did not adhere to herbal medicine services due to lack of knowledge in the subject. Training courses were proposed (70%) to increase the adhesion of prescribers to the system. Some municipalities use information obtained from patients to assess the therapeutic efficiency of medicinal plants and herbal medicines. Of the programs underway, cultivation of medicinal plants was observed in 50%, and 67% of the programs adopted quality control. In most programs, this control is not performed in accordance with the legal requirements. © 2012 Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas.