The LONMA (Lower Omo Natural Medicine Association) carefully documented 376 natural medicine practitioners (traditional healers) data from all the 16 ethnic groups of the South Omo Zone with the specific diseases they are believed to cure by their communities, among which 122 are women. Gastrointestinal, poisonous animal bites, eye diseases, anemia, rabies, and malaria are the common problems treated by these herbalists. Gynecological, STD, cardiac, dental, tumor, epilepsy, and TB cases have some specialists too. Among those, 22 are bone settlers and physiotherapists.
Environmental degradation, agricultural expansion, loss of forests and woodlands, over-harvesting, fire, cultivation of marginal lands, overgrazing, and urbanization appear to be the major threats to the medicinal plants of Ethiopia. Endemic medicinal plant species restricted to Ethiopia are of primary concern to Ethiopia and to the world as well and thus need serious attention. Furthermore, there is very little ethnobotanical documentation on most medicinal species of the country. The status of phytomedicine, preparation of crude extracts, and isolation of active principals are very minimal. The database for the recorded species of medicinal plants also needs special attention. See LONMA’s data about Medicinal Plants of South Omo, Ethiopia
The association (LONMA) will establish a botanical garden and nursery site in a different part of the project area recently we established and developed a botanical garden in the compound of South Region’s public health research laboratory, which is located at the Zonal capital’s Jinka town. See more about LONMA’s medicinal plant (botanical) garden. See more about LONMA’s medicinal plant (botanical) garden