Knowledge Patterns and Comparative Use of Medicinal Plants and Biomedical Medicines Among Migrants in an Urban Setting

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants is a central cultural practice in socio-ecological systems. In these systems, the use and knowledge of medicinal plants can be influenced by several factors. Among these factors, human migration has been identified as a major driver of changes in therapeutic practices and knowledge of medicinal plants. This study assessed patterns of knowledge and use of medicinal plants and biomedical medicines among migrants in an urban setting. Given greater contact with plants in rural areas, we tested two hypotheses: H1: migrants’ rural or urban origin influences their medicinal plant knowledge, because previous exposure to rural environments may favor greater familiarity with medicinal plants and their therapeutic uses. H2: given greater access to health services in urban areas, we also tested if residence in an urban setting is associated with greater reported use of biomedical medicines than medicinal plants, possibly due to increased access to healthcare services and pharmaceutical products. The study was conducted in the Brivaldo Medeiros II housing complex, municipality of Palmeira dos Índios, Alagoas. For data collection, we used the free-listing technique, semi-structured interviews, and the snowball sampling method with 41 migrant participants. We used BioStat software version 5.3 for statistical analysis. We found no significant difference in the number of medicinal plants known by migrants from rural versus urban areas (p = 0.4698). The use of biomedical medicines was significantly higher than the use of medicinal plants (χ2 = 165.05; df = 1; p < 0.0001). This study contributes to understanding how medicinal plant knowledge and therapeutic practices are maintained or transformed in urban migrant contexts.