Phytotherapy programs and actions within Brazilian primary healthcare were analyzed from the literature. This meta-study included six databases, from 1988 to 2012. Twenty-four published papers were registered. Phytotherapy has been introduced for a variety of reasons: to increase the therapeutic resources, retrieve popular knowledge, preserve biodiversity and promote environmental and popular education, agroecology and social development. There is an ambivalence that on the one hand reinforces self-care, educational activities and intersectoral and community participation, thus constituting a form of care and health promotion; and on the other hand restricts the process to incorporation of compounded or manufactured herbal medicines to pharmacies within primary care services, for strictly professional use. A broad view of phytotherapy that incorporates these two approaches from the perspective of ecology of healthcare knowledge and practices is emphasized.
Primary healthcare; Medicinal plants; Phytotherapy
