The source of information, such as social media, plays an important role to combat pandemics. Lifestyle, diet, age, sex, medicinal conditions, and environmental factors have been playing an important role in the personal fate towards the severity of COVID-19. The WHO Africa (2020) claims unscientific products to treat COVID-19 can be unsafe for people, as they may abandon self-hygienic practices, may increase self-medication, and may be a risk to patient safety. On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) claims medicinal plants might be good for the health and in supporting the immune system, but not in preventing or curing COVID-19. In China, traditional medicine showed encouraging results in improving symptom management and reducing the deterioration, mortality, and recurrence rates. Countries like China and India are integrating their use with western medicine to boost the immunity power of COVID-19 patients. ĭifferent researchers have suggested herbal medicine as a potential option to cure or prevent COVID-19. People had used medicinal plants to fight against pandemics in the past, and dependency of people on medicinal plants might have increased in these days around the world as medicinal plants can be an alternative option to prevent COVID-19. Plant species have always been a fundamental source for the discovery of drugs. People are dependent on plants for different purposes such as for food, medicine, and houses. There is a strong inter-relationship between people and plants according to needs. Due to this situation, ethnobiologists should collaborate with local people and document the medicinal plants used with caution to stop the inaccurate sharing of information.
The different types of misinformation related to COVID-19 have been spreading throughout the world through social media, including use of medicinal plant products to prevent or cure COVID-19. A number of combinations and trials have been done, but so far, they have not produced promising results. The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused global socioeconomic disturbances with a worrisome number of deaths and health issues, and the world has been struggling to find medicine to treat and prevent COVID-19. The authorities should test the validity of these medicinal plants and control the flow of false information spread through research and awareness programs. This should be taken seriously by concerned authorities. People were using more medicinal plants during COVID-19 claiming that they can prevent or cure COVID-19. The information source of plants was significantly associated with the education, gender, method of treatment, occupation, living with family, and location of home during the lockdown caused by COVID-19. The medicinal plants recorded were significantly associated with the education level, location of home, primary treatment mode, gender, and age class. Most of the people (45.61%) were getting medicinal plants from their home garden. The Zingiber officinale was the most cited species with the frequency of citation 0.398. The leaves of the plants were the most frequently used. This study recorded a total of 60 plants belonging to 36 families. The study found that the use of medicinal plants has increased during COVID-19 and most of the respondents recommended medicinal plants to prevent COVID-19. The relationship between the information sources people follow and the respondent characteristics was assessed using chi-square test. The relationship between plants recorded and different covariates (age, gender education, occupation, living place, and treatment methods) was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon test. The study calculated the relative frequencies of citation (RFC) for the recorded medicinal plants.
A total of 774 respondents took part in the survey. This study used a web-based survey to collect primary data related to medicinal plants used during COVID-19. This study aimed to document the present status of medicinal plant use and make important suggestion to the concerned authorities. In this context, a research was needed to document medicinal plants used, their priority of use in society, their cultivation status, and the source of information people follow to use them. A lot of misinterpretations of the use of medicinal plants to treat or prevent COVID-19 have been spreading throughout Nepal which need to be managed proactively. The use of medicinal plants has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a private behavior (not under the control of government).
Nepalese people are rich in traditional medicine especially in folk medicine (ethnomedicine), and this system is gaining much attention after 1995. Medicinal plants are the fundamental unit of traditional medicine system in Nepal.