DID YOU KNOW THAT ? Philippine Herbal Plants Health Practices

Long before the introduction of modern medicines and Western curative methods herbal medicines had been widely used in the Philippines.The curative effects of the herbs were tested by traditional healers on their patient on try-and-error basis. The knowledge an skills on the curative application of any give herbal medicine has been handed down from generation to generation. Apart from prescribing herbs medicines, the traditional healers were known to give psychological comfort an moral support to their patients. In the of days, they were well respected and enjoy high social status.Through generations of selective process, the herbs that were known to be effective were kept alive. The ineffective one were soon forgotten.

In the days when drugs from the West just started to be used in the Philippines, the were not only too expensive but also too scarce. The rural folks and the poor continued to rely on herbal medicines available in abundance, locally.
Hospitals that. have sprouted up in the provinces and later in the districts have in no small part contributed to the dying art of tra­ditional healing. Doctors trained in Western medicine have arrived to introduce new con­cepts almost at every corner of the country. Of course, modern medicine is a wonder compared to the use of herbs. After all, there is still no herbal medicine comparable to an­tibiotics, vaccines, anti-inflammation, and symptomatic drugs.

Philippine Herbal Medicine: Akapulko / Acapulco (Cassia alata)

Akapulko or Acapulco in English is a shrub found throughout the Philippines.