A review on traditional medicinal plants used to treat gynaecological disorder in Bangladesh

Abstract

Medicinal plant resources of forest origin are extensively used for gynecological disorder in many parts of Bangladesh and India mostly in rural areas. Traditionally, rural women prefer Ayurvedic medicines rather than modern medicines for abortion, menstrual irregularity, conception disorders, sterility, delivery problem and many such gynecological disorders, because modern medicinal facilities are scanty which made it inaccessible to many rural people. Moreover herbal medicines are cheap, easily accessible, have lesser or no side effects with higher efficasy. But these valuable knowledges have not been properly documentated. For this, traditional knowledge is vanishing gradually as a result of mordernisation. So, appropiate and accurate documentation of such traditional and precious Ayurvedic knowledge can be an excellent contribution to medicinal field. The present study is aimed to compile different and scattered knowledge about the therapeutic uses of plants for gynecological disorders. The paper attempts to represent such scattered valuable data to create awareness among the Ayurvetic practitioners, product users and scientific community so that some conservative efforts for sustainable use can be initiated. The present paper evaluates about 251 plant species belonging to 94 families, with their mostly used parts and their mode of application. This information can also be helpful to lead further researches at the clinical and pharmacological level.