A Rural Afro-Colombian population’s plant-based responses to hearing problems as survivors of an explosive device

Abstract

The municipality of Bojayá, Chocó, faces the aftermath of the detonation of an improvised explosive device on the Afro-Colombian civilian population during the 2002 massacre. Survivors report having physical problems that are poorly cared for by biomedicine, among which hearing problems stand out. Traditional medical knowledge has been deployed from community resources in search of relief and has reduced access barriers to the full enjoyment of the health rights of the people who live in areas with little institutionalized medical infrastructure available for their care. This descriptive study was developed during 2018 and 2019 through five successive phases that combined qualitative and quantitative techniques for the collection and analysis of information: clinical surveys, individual and collective oral interviews, participant observation on herbal practices, verification with local and academic experts on useful plants identified in the previous steps, and a review of published literature on the subject. Earache is the most common hearing problema and the medicinal plants that the community has used for its treatment were identified. Four plants were recognized for the management of earache in the studied population: chicoria or siempreviva (Tripogandra serrulate (Vahl) Handlos), ajo (Allium sativum L.), llantén (Plantago major L.), and orégano chocoano or oreganón (Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng.); Additionally, it was described how they were used by the locals. In conclusion, in rural contexts that have been affected by armed conflict, with poor access to institutionalized biomedical health services, ancestral health knowledge provides relief from neglected symptoms facilitating the enjoyment of health rights. In a population with frequent hearing symptoms as a result of armed violence, herbalism was evidenced as a useful and easily accessible cultural resource used for earache, in the absence of others. This must be taken into account for the design of comprehensive health systems, which enable dialogue between their own ancestral knowledge and institutionalized biomedical health, for the benefit of rural inhabitants.