About

Botanica Ethiopia is an approved aid and development project to establish an indigenous medicinal herb garden in Fiche, Ethiopia.

DID YOU KNOW?

• 80% of Ethiopians rely on traditional (herbal) medicine as their primary form of health care.
• According to the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and the United Nations, herbal medicine practice is in danger of being lost due to lack of documented knowledge, and the threatened extinction of medicinal plants.

THE PROJECT
Working with the Fiche community, local partners and Global Development Group, the Botanica Ethiopia ‘Living Pharmacy’ project focuses on how native herbs can support the health of Ethiopian families and their communities.

The project involves local workshops to share and document traditional medicine knowledge and practices which are in danger of being forgotten. It has also involved capacity building in areas of permaculture design, small business development and modern beekeeping.

It is hoped that the herb garden will provide a model for replication elsewhere in Ethiopia, and a possible means of income generation for the Fiche community in the future.

The Living Pharmacy project is partially funded by Blackmores Ltd. and delivered in partnership with Global Development Group. The project has been developed by Elizabeth d’Avigdor with support from Southern Cross University, Australia and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

ABOUT ELIZABETH
Elizabeth d’Avigdor is an Australian Naturopath (Herbal Medicine and Nutrition) with over 20 years of clinical experience. She holds a Masters of Clinical Science (Complementary Medicine) from Southern Cross University and has published research on the use of medicinal herbs in Fiche, Ethiopia in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.

Elizabeth lectures in complementary medicine at Endeavour College of Natural Health and is an educator of healthcare practitioners with Blackmores Ltd.

Elizabeth’s son was adopted from Ethiopia in 1997.

You can read more about Elizabeth at http://www.manlynaturaltherapies.com.au.

ABOUT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GROUP
‘J655N Botanica Ethiopia: A Living Pharmacy’ is an approved development project of Global Development Group, an Australian DFAT approved NGO carrying out quality humanitarian aid and development projects with approved partners to relieve and provide long term solutions to poverty.

Global Development Group takes responsibility for this project according to DFAT rules, providing a governance role and assisting in the areas of planning, monitoring, evaluating and auditing to ensure that the project is carried out to Australian requirements.

Click here for more information about Global Development Group or to make a donation  to Botanica Ethiopia.

DISCLAIMER :

We’re very happy for this blog to be a space for discussion and knowledge sharing about Ethiopian herbal medicine but please do note, we cannot take responsibility for information and advice given in user comments on the site.

Likewise, we regret we cannot make diagnoses and recommendations as to dosages as these would need to be determined by a skilled and qualified herbalist through an individual consultation.  Herbal medications may interact with each other, and with pharmaceutical medications, and what may be appropriate for one person may not be right for another.