Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Burmese Refugee Health: The Value Of Plant-Based Medicine, Natalie Wodniak

Student Theses 2015-Present

The nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma) has been undergoing violent ethnic cleansing for over 60 years. Members of minority ethnic groups such as the Karen, Chin, Mon, and Rohingya have been forced to flee their homelands. For many individuals in Myanmar, the primary form of healthcare is traditional medicine, in which plants and other natural resources are utilized for their medicinal compounds. The ability for plants to be used as medicine is one of the many ecosystem services of plants that has greatly benefitted humans. This paper examines the use of traditional medicine in Burmese refugees, as well as the …