[01] Ramasubramania Raja Rajagopal, Department of Pharmacognosy, Narayana Pharmacy College, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India.

This is a perspective review of medicinal plants useful traditionally for women's healthcare in India and countries like India. Medicinal plants have a significant role in women's healthcare in many rural areas, Plants with therapeutic efficacious observations have historically been used as a starting point in the development of new drugs, and modern pharmaceuticals have been derived from them. A review about the therapeutic effectiveness, safety and best use of herbals in day to day practice to get rid of many diseases, added value, make use of herbals in this context. Kitchen remedies are the easy access for women for their cost effective health care. Many of the dietary health practices by women reflect their health consciousness. Herbal remedies include medicinal herbs and ayurveda herbal remedies for common disorders among women urinary tract infection, pubertal changes, post menopausal syndrome, hot flashes, menopause, poly cystic ovarian syndrome, bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections, fertility, for inducing labor, for pregnancy, for increasing breast milk production, for abortion and other female disorders and to improve their health and wellness.

Medicinal Plants, Menopausal Syndrome, Herbal Remedies, Fertility, Bacterial Vaginosis

[01] Beal MW. Women's use of complementary and alternative therapies in reproductive health care. J Nurse Midwifery. 1998 May-Jun; 43(3):224-34. [02] Bourdy G, Walter A. Maternity and medicinal plants in Vanuatu. I. The cycle of reproduction. J Ethnopharmacol. 1992 Oct; 37(3):179-96. [03] Overk CR, Yao P, Chen S, Deng S, Imai A, Main M, Schinkovitz A, Farnsworth NR, Pauli GF, Bolton JL. High-content screening and mechanism-based evaluation of estrogenic botanical extracts. Comb Chem High Throughput Screen. 2008; 11: 283–293. [04] World Health Organization. 2008. Commission on the Social Determinant of Health, Key Concepts. Geneva: WHO - Ref 35. [05] Subramanian SV, Davey Smith G, Subramanyam M. Indigenous health and socioeconomic status in India. PLoS Med. 2006 Oct; 3(10):e421. [06] Sethuraman K, Lansdown R, Sullivan K: Women’s empowerment and domestic violence: the role of sociocultural determinants in maternal and child under nutrition in tribal and rural communities in South India. Food Nutr Bull 2006, 27:128-43. [07] Lim Lin Lean, “The Feminization of Labour in the Asia-Pacific Rim Countries: From Contributing to Economic Dynamism to Bearing the Brunt of Structural Adjustments”, in Naohiro Ogawa, G.W. Jones and J.G. Williamson (eds), Human Resources in Development along the Asia-Pacific Rim (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993) Tables 6.2-6.3, pp. 177-181. [08] Pinn G, Herbs used in obstetrics and gynaecology. Aust Fam Physician 2001 Apr; 30(4):351-4, 356. [09] Vidyasagar GM, Prashantkumar P. Traditional herbal remedies for gynecological disorders in women of Bidar district, Karnataka, India. Fitoterapia. 2007 Jan;78(1):48-51. Epub 2006 Sep 23. [10] Brian J. Doyle, Jonna Frasor, Lauren E. Bellows, Tracie D. Locklear, Alice Perez, Jorge Gomez- Laurito, and Gail. B. Mahady, Estrogenic effects of herbal medicines from Costa Rica used for the management of menopausal symptoms Menopause. 2009 Jul–Aug; 16(4): 748–755. [11] Russell L, Hicks GS, Low AK, Shepherd JM, Brown CA. Phytoestrogens: a viable option? Am J Med Sci. 2002 Oct; 324(4):185-8. Review. [12] Tiran D. Integrated healthcare: herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. Br J Nurs. 2006 Jun 22-Jul 12; 15(12):645-8. Review. [13] Uniyal SK, Singh KN, Jamwal P, Lal B. Traditional use of medicinal plants among the tribal communities of Chhota Bhangal, Western Himalaya. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2006 Mar 20; 2:14. [14] El-Mallakh RS, Kranzler HR, Kamanitz JR. Headaches and psychoactive substance use. Headache 1991b;31: 584-7. [15] Desai AG, Qazi GN, Ganju RK, El-Tamer M, Singh J, Saxena AK, Bedi YS, Taneja SC, Bhat HK. Medicinal plants and cancer chemoprevention. Curr Drug Metab. 2008 Sep;9(7):581-91. [16] Occupational asthma. Tips to remember. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. http://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/at-a-glance/occupational-asthma.aspx. Accessed Nov. 14, 2013. [17] W Douglas Evans, How social marketing works in health care BMJ. 2006 May 20; 332(7551): 1207–1210.