Preface

Although we are currently in an advanced scientific era where we have sound technologies to solve healthcare problems, the world is still experiencing microbial infections, antimicrobial resistance, drug failures, disorders, and pandemics due to malpractices of drugs, natural mutation, and urban lifestyles. The major causes of therapeutic failure depend on a complex interplay of socio-cultural and clinico-medical factors, which can be observed at every step of the therapeutic chain. Even though vaccines are available to protect against polio, tetanus, flu, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, rubella, measles, rotavirus, chickenpox, and more, there is still a need for medicinal food and agents from nature. Medicinal plants are rich resources of ingredients that can be used in drug formulation, whether pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical or synthetic. They also play a critical role in the development of human cultures around the world.

The use of medicinal plants goes back to ancient times. Egyptian papyrus and Chinese manuscripts describe the uses of many local herbs. Evidence shows that Unani hakims (traditional medicine practitioners in South Asia), Indian traditional healers, and European and Mediterranean travelers were using plants as medicinal agents for more than 4000 years. Ancient cultures like the Indus Valley, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Huanghe civilizations used plants as medicines, as shown by archeological evidence. Among the ancient civilizations, India has been known to have a rich diversity of medicinal plants. Indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) and the forest of India are full of therapeutic information and medicinal wealth, respectively, both of which provide raw materials for drug formulation. About 8,000 herbal remedies have been codified in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about 80% of people worldwide rely on local herbal medicines for their primary healthcare needs and identified 21,000 plant species as having medicinal value. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is going back to nature and readopting traditional practices, ITK, and old therapeutic systems. Readopting is difficult but not impossible. As such, this book provides a glimpse into plants and their traditional uses as well as their contemporary utilization for treating, managing, and even curing health problems. It is a useful resource for researchers, academicians, intellectuals, and interested readers.

> **Sanjeet Kumar** Biodiversity and Conservation Lab., Ambika Prasad Research Foundation, Cuttack, India

**1**

Section 1

Medicinal Plants and Their

Traditional Therapeutic

Values
