Building partnerships for linking biomedical science with traditional knowledge of customary medicines: a case study with two Australian Indigenous communities

Autor: Gerry Turpin, Jennifer Hunter, x Yirralka Rangers, Emilie Ens, Beatrice Venkataya, Joanne M Packer, x Mbabaram Community
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Cultural Studies
Sociology of scientific knowledge
Biomedical Research
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
Health (social science)
Participatory action research
Ethnomedicine
Intellectual property
Bioactivity
01 natural sciences
Indigenous
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
lcsh:Botany
Political science
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Traditional knowledge
Plain language
Aboriginal
Plants
Medicinal
Community engagement
Information Dissemination
business.industry
Research
Australia
Traditional medicine
lcsh:Other systems of medicine
Public relations
lcsh:RZ201-999
Collaboration
Research Personnel
lcsh:QK1-989
0104 chemical sciences
010404 medicinal & biomolecular chemistry
Knowledge
Complementary and alternative medicine
Medicine
Traditional
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
business
Zdroj: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2019)
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
ISSN: 1746-4269
DOI: 10.1186/s13002-019-0348-6
Popis: Background Customary medicine of Australia’s Indigenous peoples draws upon knowledge developed through millennia of interaction with Australia’s unique flora and fauna. Many Indigenous Australians are interested in developing modern medicinal and commercial translations of traditional knowledge; however, barriers of trust and benefit sharing often thwart progress. Methods Using a participatory action research framework, university researchers collaborated with members of two Australian Indigenous communities to investigate selected medicinal plants and locally made bush products. A trusted community liaison facilitated the collaboration that was fostered through bilateral site visits. Material transfer and confidentiality agreements ensured that the plant materials were only used for the agreed purpose. Plain language written reports of the laboratory results were provided to the communities with follow up discussions. Results In case study 1, only some of the traditional uses for the raw plants were shared with the researchers. Deidentified plants were assessed for antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. In case study 2, the plant names, traditional uses, and preparation methods were shared with the aim of learning more about their plants, potential uses, and optimising their bush products. Literature reviews were conducted that also helped guide in vitro testing of the crude and solvent partitioned extracts. These differences reflected the community’s reasons for conducting the research and intellectual property considerations. In both cases, observed benefits included building trust and strengthening working relationships for ongoing collaboration, fostering enthusiasm for linking traditional and scientific knowledge, promoting cross-cultural learning about scientific methods and traditional medicine, maintaining the relevance of traditional knowledge in the modern world, and initiating community discussions around their bush medicine product development. Conclusions Community-driven scientific investigation of traditional medicinal knowledge can facilitate culturally meaningful outcomes, with potentially wide-reaching direct and indirect benefits. Community liaisons were invaluable for establishment of strong relationships and ensured that the research was culturally and locally appropriate. The need for clearer guidelines and regulation around community-driven biomedical research of their plants was identified. Australia would benefit from a user-friendly, open-source toolkit that promotes use of local traditional medicines, contains information about processes and protocols that communities and scientists could use to develop collaborative projects, and guides regulation and ethical commercialisation. Close consultation and collaboration with communities and researchers will be needed to ensure that such a toolkit is culturally appropriate and fit-for-purpose.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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