Gardens of the World
"Jardins du Monde" is a French humanitarian association, recognised as being in the public interest. Its main aim is to promote the use of medicinal plants in community healthcare, where people have difficulty gaining access to conventional medicine.
In many countries where the health situation is difficult, there is a rich plant pharmacopoeia and important scientific information to develop it.
According to the WHO, almost 80 % of the world's population use the knowledge of popular and traditional medicines and the medicinal plants in their pharmacopoeia to treat themselves. Sometimes by choice, but all too often out of necessity.
Unfortunately, knowledge about the use of medicinal plants is disappearing. What's more, the threat to plant biodiversity in general also affects medicinal plants, which are less available to the people who need them most.
"Jardins du Monde" studies the medicinal plants used locally and shares its scientific data with its partners, health institutions, NGOs and local farmers' organisations.
Jardins du Monde's activities, based on the active participation of rural populations, help to improve living conditions in terms of hygiene and health. They improve access to healthcare for the most disadvantaged sections of the population by developing the use of locally available natural resources, as part of a health education programme and with a view to preserving resources and traditional knowledge.
Since 1992, at the request of local populations, in collaboration with farming communities, village and urban organisations, and according to a methodology that we adapt to the specificities of the field, Jardins du Monde :
- studies traditional local pharmacopoeia and pathologies, in the course of ethnobotanical surveys.
- collects scientific information on the plants listed,
- researches therapeutic solutions and adapts them for popular use,
- writes and publishes educational documents and manuals for use by local communities,
is setting up educational gardens to support health training courses, so that everyone is familiar with the plants, - trains housewives and local health workers in the use of medicinal plants, following an appropriate protocol,
- making medicinal plants available to local populations by developing production gardens and facilities for processing and selling plants in the form of improved traditional remedies,
- collaborates on research into medicinal plants in relation to neglected diseases such as malaria,
- publishes scientific works,
- adapts to the local situation in terms of health and biodiversity, by facilitating access to drinking water, planting local species and developing the production of medicinal plants for the fair trade market,
- trains and monitors children under 5 as part of their nutrition programme.
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