article · Sustainability
Knowledge of medicinal plants is deeply rooted in Maasai culture, yet how children acquire and pass on this understanding across generations has remained poorly understood. An assessment of eighty children aged six to seventeen examined their understanding of medicinal plants, methods of knowledge transfer, and demographic influences. The findings reveal that children begin learning about local medicinal plants and their applications at an average age of seven. This knowledge expands steadily as children grow older. Neither gender nor formal education level appears to influence the acquisition of this knowledge, with boys and girls receiving the traditional information indiscriminately. Understanding these dynamics supports broader initiatives to protect, conserve, and sustain indigenous ethnomedicinal knowledge and local cultural heritage over time.
Traditional medicinal knowledge holds important insights for healthcare and cultural preservation. Demonstrating that indigenous plant knowledge is actively and equally transmitted to young boys and girls, independent of modern schooling, highlights the strength of community-based learning systems. This understanding is essential for designing effective policies and conservation programmes that preserve community heritage alongside ecological biodiversity.
The abstract does not indicate a commercialisation pathway, as it focuses strictly on cultural transmission and the conservation of traditional heritage.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Knowledge and practice of medicinal plant use is embedded in the Maasai culture. However, it is not known how that knowledge and practices are acquired by children and transferred across generations. We assessed children’s knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses, methods of knowledge acquisition and transfer, and how that process is influenced by demographic attributes such as gender, level of education, and age. We interviewed 80 children who were 6–17 years old. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis tests and Spearman Rank order correlation were performed to determine the influence of gender, level of education, and age when they are in the process of acquiring ethnomedicinal plant knowledge. The Maasai children acquired knowledge of medicinal plants progressively with their age. Ethnomedicinal knowledge was not influenced by gender or level of education. The children were introduced to the knowledge of local medicinal plants and their use at an average age of seven years and the knowledge was transferred indiscriminately to both girls and boys. This study aids in the protection and conservation of medicinal plant knowledge by encouraging the sustainability of the local cultural heritage.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3390/su11195530
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
