Bown (1995: 37) describes that the pandan tree grows as tall as 5 meters, with erect, small branches. Pandan is also known as Fragrant Screw Pine. Its trunk bears plenty of prop roots. Its leaves spirals the branches, and crowds at the end. Its male inflorescence emits a fragrant smell, and grows in length for up to 0. 5 meters. The fruit of the pandan tree, which is usually about 20 centimeters long, are angular in shape, narrow in the end and the top is shortening. In various parts of the world, the uses of this plant are very diverse. A multipurpose plant which providing food, and medicine to the people.
This essay will discuss on how a pandan tree can be used as a tropical medicine and its effects. 38 year old Hellen, a mother to three beautiful daughters. Suffers from asthma and every time she has an asthma attack, she always relies on her medication which she gets from her previous medical checkup. But this time at her daughters’ birthday party, she ate prawns in which she got allergic to and had an asthma attack. She took her last dose of medication and was rushed in to the health post where the facilities and medicines were all out of order.
She remained calm for a while and still complaining of having chest pain and SOB. Nigel the officer in charge of the rural health post, was told by some of the villagers that if he could allow them to bring in traditional medication for her since the health post is not in good shape. He insisted and the villager went out looking for a traditional treatment for asthma. After 10 minutes the villagers rushed in with all sort of different herbs from the bush and they explain that it is the aerial root (young) of the pandan tree along with leaf buds of the noni tree and it is good for asthmatic people.
Asthma the chronic disease comes to play when main air passage of your lungs, the bronchial tubes, become inflamed as a result of which it makes difficult for the air to pass through the obstructed airways (Standard treatment guidelines for adults, 2012) . Hellen is an asthmatic patient. Nevertheless in the village the people rely on tropical medicine, in which they get the aerial root of the pandan tree, cleaned it probably, peel the skin off and scrap the inner part of it. They collected young leaf buds of the noni tree and pounded it.
From there they get the pounded ones (noni leaf buds) and mixed it together with the scraped inner part of the pandan aerial root. Squeezed the mixture and then the juice is to be drunk by the asthmatic patient. Sapeta. Lameko (2013, May 01) explains that traditional medicine has always played a major role in Tuvalu. It is widely practiced and continues to provide significant coverage of health needs. She states that one of the traditional medicines used is from parts of the pandanus plant.
The inner part of the pandanus’ root is helpful in treating asthma. She elaborates that the juice that you get from the mixture of a scraped inner part of the pandan aerial root, along with the leaf buds of a noni treats an asthmatic patient. Also throughout the pacific, people also used the pandans’ roots to care for asthma, coughing, measles and many more. Furthermore the Pandan Health Benefits (2010, January 12) explains that pandan is very useful for it treats such sicknesses as leprosy, smallpox and wounds.
Help reduce fever, solves several skin problems, relives headache and arthritis, treatment of ear pains, functions as a laxative for children, eases chest pain, helps in speeding up the recuperation of women who have given birth and are still weak and also it reduces stomach spasms. The leaves and roots are found to have medicinal benefits. Such parts of the pandan plant have been found to have essential oils, tannin, alkaloids and glycosides, which are the reasons for the effective treatment of various health concerns.
According to Woodley (1991: 111) he expressed that in coastal village; the new root is scraped and boiled in rain water until the solution turns yellow. The cooled liquid is then used daily to treat gonorrhea. He also points out that in New Hannover, the bark is scraped, mixed with water in a wild ginger leaf and the solution is drank to sedate a mentally disturbed person. Additionally, its roots are used internally in folk medicine as a diuretic depurative and tonic and so as the leaf bud, which are used externally for boils (Woodley, 1991: 66).
For they (the people) believe that it will heal the wound quickly without causing any complications. Moreover to hasten recovery from measles by bringing the bumps out faster, the sick child has to chew on the end of an aerial root of pandanus. Herbal (tropical) medicine can be very useful in the health care delivery provided positive measures towards its safe use, development and standardization are taken. Traditional tropical medicine though important for individuals and communities, remains a form of practice outside the formal health system.
For it is considered a sensible option in the face of rising cost of modern medicine, transport difficulties and poor or inadequate health facilities at aid post and rural health centers. What’s more medicinal plants are part of nature and no matter how much progress science make in the field of medicine, people are still likely to continue to use natural herbal remedies. Besides is that all throughout the tropics the people rely on plants, natural living things for their medical uses and pandan tree is one of them, it does not have any bad side effects to the body but it does helps the person to recover without any complications.
REFERENCE LIST Bown, D. (1995). Encyclopedia of Herbs & their uses. NY, USA: Dorling Kindersley Limited. Lameko, S. (2013, May 01). Interview between S. Lameko and T. Malaki. Parsons, C. D. F. (1985). Healing Practices in the South Pacific. USA: The Institute for Polynesian Studies. Rai, P. P. (2004). Traditional Medicine in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, PNG: University of Papua New Guinea. Standard treatment guidelines for adult, (2012). 6th ed. Papua New Guinea. Woodley, E. (1991). Medicinal Plants of Papua New Guinea. Wau, PNG: Wau Ecology Institute.