Research

On December 21st, the DTU Faculty of Pharmacy teamed up with the Centre for Research and Development of Ethno-medicinal Plants (CREDEP) to organize a seminar entitled “Medicinal Plant Resources in Central Vietnam”. Dr Tran Cong Khanh of CREDEP, Assistant Professor Nguyen Ngoc Minh, Vice-Provost, and lecturers and students attended.

 

  

 

Vietnam has a hot and humid, tropical monsoon climate and is rich in plant resources, particularly diverse medicinal ones. Research into extracting their active ingredients to produce new drugs should now become more feasible, based on the experiences of ethnic communities in cultivating these plants to cure diseases. In practice, however, such research currently is still strictly limited.

 

  

 

Dr.Khanh has dedicated many years to study and collect medicinal plants from all over the country. He has created a medicinal botanical garden of precious herbs and successfully researched effective cures. He presented an extensive scenario of their potential. “The richness of plants with medicinal properties in Vietnam has been recognized, but their increasing exploitation, without regard to replanting and recultivation, has left their supply seriously depleted,” Dr.Khanh explained. “In addition, the conversion of agricultural into industrial land and ensuing construction has continuously reduced the growing area available for cultivation, with many species facing the threat of extinction. Therefore I hope that the Faculty of Pharmacy at DTU will work with local government to examine the problem and propose a feasible model to develop the richness of medicinal plants here in Central Vietnam.”

 

Many ideas on the conservation and development of the plants were put forward at the seminar, such as a management model linked with biodiversity conservation, conservation of local cultures, ways of increasing the effective use of nature reserves and national parks, further research into the cultivation of plants with high potential value and training local people in land management and techniques to cultivate and preserve them.

 

The Faculty of Medicine has already implemented several sociological and research projects aimed at improving public health care. Among these were the seminar “Screening and searching for compounds effective against cancer from Vietnamese medicinal plants” and the implementation of research projects to produce Angelica, Vietnamese ginseng and Ha Thu O instant tea. The seminar was planned to improve awareness of the need to preserve rare plants by  recultivation, and the best ways to use them to satisfy the health needs of individuals, families and communities.