ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY AND DECOLONIAL EDUCATION: INTEGRATING TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAATINGA INTO GLOBAL HEALTH CURRICULA

Abstract

The hegemony of the Western biomedical model in health curricula constitutes a systematic act of epistemic silencing, whose consequences fall disproportionately on populations that have historically built their therapeutic practices from territorially rooted knowledge. This article presents the results of an integrative literature review, conducted between October 2025 and March 2026, aimed at mapping scientific production on medicinal plants of the Caatinga, analyzing regulatory frameworks for access and benefit-sharing under the Nagoya Protocol, and proposing an Ethnopharmacological Transition Education Model (META) for global health curricula. Drawing on a final corpus of 36 studies, organized into three analytical axes, the review found: (i) the phytochemical and pharmacological richness of Caatinga species, proven in laboratory and ethnobotanical studies, remains structurally absent from curricula; (ii) the Nagoya Protocol, while necessary, produces paradoxical effects by disproportionately burdening researchers from the Global South; (iii) curricular decolonization in health is an urgent epistemological demand, still insufficiently operationalized. The META, proposed as an original contribution of this article, articulates five dimensions: recognition, integration, regulation, clinical practice, and epistemic advocacy. Results indicate that integrating ethnopharmacological knowledge of the Caatinga into health curricula is not merely a gesture of cultural justice, but a concrete strategy for pedagogical innovation with direct impact on collective health.