The main objective of green health programme focused on ‘saving medicinal plants for saving life’. The awareness campaign had effectual attempt to collect and analyse of the medicinal plants and study on the available knowledge. Other activities encompass training on primary healthcare medicine preparation and their wide distribution. The most useful species on verification with the traditional healers have been collected for the ‘green health care kit’. These species were provided for the cultivation and conservation. The activities of the campaign have extended to the nearby villages largely focusing on women groups for health benefits and for an extra income through training on simple herbal formulations. In addition to that Green Health plant exhibitions were conducted on 12 occasions meant for diverse groups of people.
Activities
The activities of the project have medicinal plant conservation and sustainable use, training for the preparation of healthcare products, market facilitation for income generation and medicinal plant knowledge documentation. Fourteen programmes have been conducted for the preparation of herbal formulations on balm for headache; Uraguliga-tablet for stomach complaints of children; Murivenna, a soothing oil for minor cuts/ boils and wounds; iron tonic for anaemic children; Sadavari gulam a health tonic for women; Karkidaka lehiyam for consumption during the monsoon season to prevent common ailments; an oil for toothache and earache; Brahmi lehyam for memory enhancing, Thaleespathram, a powder for curing cough and Navadhanya mixture. Invitations are being received from many groups to conduct exhibition on the same. The health care products named Navadhanya mixture has been introduced in the market with the help of IFARM and it is being sold with high demand in and around the district. Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore analyzed the nutritive value of the product ‘Navadhanya mixture’ and found to be nutrient dense.
One of the mandates is the Conservation and Sustainable Use of the medicinal plants by involving women self help group members and conservation experts. The programme initiated since 1997 has been actively functioning with more than 500 women being trained.
The local Panchayat bodies use this initiative as a tool to mobilise self-sustaining programmes in terms of economic returns.
Impact
The impact of the programme has evidenced through the regular visits of people to the Centre from the distant places to learn on the formulations. Many traditional healers, resides locally, approached the centre to enhance their knowledge on medicinal plants. People recognise the centre as an institution that stands for the conservation of medicinal plants and native heritage.
Medicinal plants used in primary health care has propagated and conserved in MSSBG conservatory. A check list of 630 plants from Wayanad has been prepared, out of which three hundred are medicinally important and are conserved at the Centre. It further assists to establish community medicinal plant gardens for transferring knowledge on identification and uses of the medicinal plants without ambiguity. Such gardens also contribute to the conservation of rare and endangered plants. A user friendly software package to store comprehensive database of medicinal plants of Kerala has been prepared to disseminate knowledge regarding effective conservation management practices and better utilization of resources. The future prospect will be for quality ensured value added products at village level bio-enterprises, further to meet the level of International Market demand for Herbals. This will ultimately enable the community, especially women, to attain sustainable income.