National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden University Branch, Leiden, The Netherlands.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2010 Feb 17;127(3):694-701. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2009.11.033. Epub 2009 Dec 11.
When people migrate, they tend to bring along their medicinal plants. In order to improve migrant health, we need information on their traditional health beliefs and practices. This paper investigates medicinal plant use among Surinamese migrants in the Netherlands.
Data from 210 semi-structured interviews among 1st and 2nd generation Surinamese migrants were analysed to determine which medicinal plants were used, for what purposes, which demographic, socio-economic or psycho-social factors play a role in the choice for traditional medicine and to clarify people's personal motives to use herbs. Variables associated with medicinal plant use were identified by using the Pearson gamma2 test and the two-sample t-test. After selecting significant variables by means of bivariate analyses, multinomial logistic regression with stepwise forward selection was used to assess whether medicinal plant use could be explained by a combination of these variables.
More than 75% of the respondents used herbal medicine, and 66% did so in the past year. Herbs were more frequently employed for health promotion (39%) than for disease prevention or cure (both 27%). Almost half of the respondents who had been ill the last year had used herbal medicine. More than 140 herb species were mentioned during the interviews. Plant use was often related to certain culture-bound health beliefs. Spiritual baths were the most popular traditional practice, followed by genital steam baths, bitter tonics, and the consumption of bitter vegetables. Afro-Surinamers more frequently used herbal medicine than Hindustani. The WINTI belief strongly influenced plant use, as well as the occurrence of an illness in the past year, and frequent visits to Suriname. Age, gender, income and education had no significant effect on the use of traditional medicine. Surinamers stated that they used medicinal herbs because they grew up with them; herbs were more effective and had fewer side effects than conventional therapies.
As long as certain culture-bound beliefs and health concepts remain prevalent among Surinamese migrants, and ties with their home country remain strong, they will continue using medicinal herbs from their country of origin. More research is needed on the health effects of frequently used medicinal plants by migrants in the Netherlands.
人们在迁移时往往会带上他们的药用植物。为了改善移民的健康状况，我们需要了解他们的传统健康信仰和实践。本文调查了荷兰苏里南移民中药用植物的使用情况。
对 210 名第一代和第二代苏里南移民进行了半结构式访谈，分析了他们使用的药用植物、用途、哪些人口统计学、社会经济或心理社会因素在选择传统医学方面发挥作用，以及澄清人们使用草药的个人动机。使用 Pearson gamma2 检验和两样本 t 检验确定与药用植物使用相关的变量。通过双变量分析选择显著变量后，使用逐步向前选择的多变量逻辑回归来评估药用植物的使用是否可以用这些变量的组合来解释。
超过 75%的受访者使用草药，其中 66%在过去一年中使用过。草药更多地用于促进健康（39%），而不是预防或治疗疾病（均为 27%）。过去一年中生病的受访者中，有近一半人使用过草药。在访谈中提到了超过 140 种草药。植物的使用往往与某些特定文化的健康信仰有关。精神浴是最受欢迎的传统做法，其次是生殖器蒸汽浴、苦补品和食用苦味蔬菜。 Afro-Surinamers 使用草药的频率高于 Hindustani。WINTI 信仰强烈影响植物的使用，以及过去一年中患病的发生频率以及频繁访问苏里南。年龄、性别、收入和教育对传统医学的使用没有显著影响。苏里南人表示，他们使用药用草药是因为他们从小就与它们一起长大；草药比传统疗法更有效，副作用更少。
只要苏里南移民中某些特定文化的信仰和健康观念仍然流行，并且与祖国的联系仍然紧密，他们将继续使用来自祖国的药用植物。需要对荷兰移民中经常使用的药用植物的健康影响进行更多研究。
