Fiocruz offers free virtual course on medicinal plants | Land of People

The Department of Pharmaceutical Assistance and Strategic Inputs, linked to the Ministry of Health, together with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brasília (DF) is offering a free course on medicinal plants for healthcare professionals and students.

Although it is aimed at SUS health professionals, the virtual course can be accessed by people who have completed an undergraduate course, in any area of ​​knowledge. Registration can be made until June 9th, at institution website.

According to the organizers, the objective of the initiative is to harmonize and expand the rational use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines. The course has a workload of 40 hours and the content will be available to registrants until July 9th of this year. See the topics included in the course:

• Unit 1: Introduction;
• Unit 2: Fundamental concepts in phytotherapy;
• Unit 3: Phytochemistry;
• Unit 4: Regulation for phytotherapy / medicinal plants and herbal medicines;
• Unit 5: Non-clinical and clinical research for drug development;
• Unit 6: Concepts of evidence-based clinical practice;
• Unit 7: History and traditionality in herbal medicine;
• Unit 8: Toxic plants and adverse reactions to herbal medicines.

Plants are an inexhaustible source of medicines and natural remedies, with the possibility of treating or complementing health treatments, as long as they are used correctly and with the guidance of a qualified professional.

However, the importance of knowledge about medicinal plants goes far beyond alternative treatments, also covering cultural, environmental, economic and public health aspects, which brings the need to preserve and promote ancestral traditions based on them.

According to the booklet, professionals qualified to prescribe herbal medicines are doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians (in their field), nutritionists, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, biologists and biomedical scientists.

Furthermore, Fiocruz has a virtual herbarium, that is, a database on popular knowledge of medicinal plants used in Brazil. A Botanical Collection of Medicinal Plants (CBPM) can be accessed to consult the medicinal properties and ways of consuming plants.