The contribution of the use of medicinal plants in the autonomy of health care

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants, widespread and used for thousands of years by traditional and indigenous peoples, is made official with the creation of the National Policy on Medicinal Plants and Phytotherapeuticsa and the inclusion of this pratice in the official  health system in Brazil. The Policy, among other objectives, is traditional knowledge and the valorization of the use of plants and another form of care based on more horizontal relationships, exchanges of knowledge in education, in addition to promoting another health approach and health care process. This article reflects on the diffrerent meanings of health and care and how the use of  medicinal plants in the SUS contribute to people”s self care \ , . To deepen the discussion, we brought excerpts from entities made with important agents in the creation and development of the PNPMF on the subject. We conclude that the inclusion of the use of plants in the SUS has great possibilities of promoting the transmission and dissemination of traditional knowledge to contribute with other care pratices, as a result of acting in a way  to promote the cultivation, the production of home remedies, more possibilities changes in care practices, promotion of other biological care measueres, provision of people’s self- care .