19 February 2021

Indigenous women and medicinal plants

A report by Rebecca Lazarou, MSc in Medicinal Natural Products and Phytochemistry, about the Nuwas Forest, a space where a group of Awajún indigenous women grow medicinal plants and thus preserve their ancestral knowledge.

19 February 2021

Book on Traditional Bolivian Medicine

Quechua healer Carlos Prado Mendoza, from Cochabamba, Bolivia, offers on sale the electronic book in Spanish “1000 maneras de prevenir y curar enfermedades” (1000 ways to prevent and cure diseases), where he explains the use of medicinal plants from Bolivia to cure many diseases. This beautiful volume is presented as an encyclopedia of herbal medicine and more generally of alternative medicine.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will be delivered to Carlos Prado to help him face the difficult economic situation that he is going through because of the pandemic and to respond to his personal health needs.

15 February 2021

Tribute to Bernadette Rebiénot

In January 2021, the famous healer Bernadette Rebiénot passed away in Libreville, Gabon, at the age of more than 80 years. We share a tribute written by Dr. Jacques Mabit who had the opportunity to be initiated by her in the Bwiti ritual at her Center Oyenano 20 years ago. This extraordinary 5-day experience under the influence of Iboga or "sacred wood", the African equivalent of Amazonian Ayahuasca, profoundly marked Jacques' journey.

11 February 2021

Frontiers in Pharmacology special edition edited by Takiwasi research staff

The first research articles related to the call “Beyond the Pharmacology of Psychoactive Plant Medicines and Drugs: Pros and Cons of the Role of Rituals and Set and Setting” have been published. Among the Topic Editor of this new article collection under the section Ethnopharmacology of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology we find Matteo Politi and Fernando Mendive from Takiwasi’s research department.

05 February 2021

Initiation Plants in Drug Addiction Treatment: The Purgahuasca Therapy

A new research article by anthropologist Miroslav Horák focuses on the utilization of a preparation from the vine Ayahuasca alone, known as Purgahuasca, as part of our drug addiction treatment program.