A collection of home remedies used in Dhaka city, Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Home remedies were possibly used by human beings since their advent. Even in the modern era, home remedies may form the only recourse for people in rural and urban Bangladesh, who either cannot afford conventional treatment or live in remote areas from where transport to a modern hospital is practically not possible in time. As a result, from time immemorial, home remedies have formed a practical feature of the medical landscape in Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to gather information from households in Dhaka city regarding their use of home remedies.Methods and findings: Information was collected from households comprising of friends, relatives, and household workers through snowball sampling. Together they formed a wide spectrum of people of varying income but mostly on the low income side, that is earning less than Bangladesh Taka (BDT) 30,000 per month (1 US$ = BDT107.24). All collected information were given voluntarily by the households surveyed and duplicate information was discarded. The main question asked was as to what home remedies (‘totka chikitsha’ in Bengali) were used, if any. As far as possible, detailed descriptions were taken about the formulations, diseases, and dosages. Plants named by the people were common plants and easily identified from their Bengali names. Conclusions: Interestingly, most plants used as home remedies were either cultivated plants and easily obtained in the kitchen markets of Dhaka city or could be found by roadsides and outskirts of the city on fallow lands. Despite their uses by the common people, a scientific perusal of the literature suggests that they can form a real remedial recourse for people when no better treatment modes are affordable or nearby. Furthermore, the plants used can be found all throughout Bangladesh making them readily available items for treatment.