ABSTRACT
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), also known as Laos, is the only landlocked nation in Southeast Asia, with 70–80% of the country covered by forest. It has a population of around 7.6 million, with approximately 60% currently residing in rural areas near forests. Administratively, the country is divided into 18 provinces. The Mekong River runs along its western border and serves as an important wellspring for the daily living of the population, such as travel, fishing, and farming. Because the people of Laos use and rely on traditional herbal medicines in their day-to-day health maintenance, the Ministry of Health of Lao PDR established the Research Institute of Medicinal Plants (RIMP) on April 27, 1976 (now the Institute of Traditional Medicine, ITM). The ITM’s mission is to gather, catalog, and study traditional remedies and to publish the results of its research for use by contemporary healers and the wider public. The ITM and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have collaborated since 1996 to study medicinal plants of Laos under various funding sources. Only portions of the findings of these research efforts have been communicated in scientific publications. This book is intended to provide an update on the most recent results of our collaboration.
