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With the implementation of the land preparation, document and formation of transformation and innovation packages in medical science education, some mission-oriented opportunities have been provided in the medical education field. Accordingly, the special mission of medicinal plant development was given to the major universities of district one of academic health preparation, including Babol University Of medical science. This study was conducted to describe and reflect the activities performed at Babol University of Medical Sciences in accomplishing this mission by reviewing relevant documentation and performance report of its executive management. Findings show that some of the performed activities regarding this issue include the revision of curriculum in terms of existence of the units or topics of medicinal plants knowledge development, placing this mission in strategic goals of the university, needs assessment of new fields concerning this mission, offering training for target groups(academics and society), investigating the performed research in the university in order to develop the knowledge of medicinal plants, explaining current status of the university regarding the development of medicinal plants knowledge, preparation of the observation indicators related to the mission and self-assessment of university with the prepared indicators, networking , communication development and using exterior experts’ knowledge, needs assessment of software and hardware  and supplying an important part of the assessed needs, layout and allocation of land to initiate the medicinal plant garden and preparation of the garden for planting the identified medicinal herbs, preparation of the research plan to allocate certification for the plants in Pardis area and medicinal plant garden of the university. Babol University of Medical Sciences has carried out extensive efforts in all areas and goals of the strategic and operational plan of the mission related to developing the medicinal plant knowledge in areas such as vocational and goals, making discourse, structural and functional areas that it has special achievements in developing the infrastructures in two-year period of the plan implementation. It is expected that through the continuation and promotion of this trend, we observe outcomes and achievements toward acquiring scientific authority in the field of medicinal plant knowledge then accordingly development of services and knowledge-based economy in near future.
 

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Background: In the most studies, differentiation of two issues: purchase quantity and willingness to purchase has not been considered. The purpose of this study was to eliminate the error caused by non-separation of these two issues.

Methods: Data were extracted from the raw data of the rural household expenditure and income survey plan of 2019. For removing sampling bias due to the low share of buyers of medicinal plants for treating in the society, the two-stage Heckman model was used countrywide.   

Results: Based on the estimation results, for every ten million rials increase in drug cost and income, the willingness to pay for medicinal plants increases by 200 and 800 rials, respectively (P <0.01). Also, the presence of medicinal plants in the region and access to physicians increases the consumption of medicinal plants by 2.7 and 1.4%, respectively (P <0.01). But time and age of head of household had no significant effect at this level. The marginal effect indicated the location conditions of families (in terms of access to medicinal plants and treatment) are more effective than social and economic variables on behavior of people's willingness to buy medicinal plants. After estimating purchase function and calculate the elasticities, it turned out, medicinal plants are a normal commodity.

Conclusion: The results showed that the variables affecting the choice of medicinal plants are different from the factors affecting of consumption of these products in terms of type and amount of effect.

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Background: The elderly are the largest population who use not only chemical drugs but also herbal drugs to treat their diseases due to multiple and chronic diseases. Therefore, considering the tendency of the elderly to use medicinal plants and the lack of sufficient documentation regarding the status of their use of medicinal plants, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the state of knowledge, attitude and practice of the elderly regarding how to use medicinal plants.
Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study (descriptive-analytical) in order to investigate the state of knowledge, attitude and practice of the elderly regarding how to use medicinal plants on 270 elderly people of Bojnurd city in 2019. The samples were selected by cluster random sampling method. The data collection tool included a questionnaire to measure knowledge, attitude and practice. The data were analyzed using T-tests and ANOVA analysis of variance at a significance level of 5%.
Results: The scores of the elderly were respectively in the variables of knowledge (6.24 ± 2.10), attitude (4.44 ± 1.53) and practice (9.75 ± 2.55). Also, the results showed that 94.4% of participants had poor and average knowledge, 91.1% had poor and average attitude, and 35.2% had poor and average practice. There was a significant difference between the familiarity of the elderly with medicinal plants with three variables of knowledge, attitude and practice (p<0.001). Among the medicinal plants, mint (23.2%), thyme, saffron (10.9%) and oregano (9.5%) were the most used medicinal plants, and ginger, rose water and chamomile were the least used medicinal plants among the elderly studied. 29.6% used medicinal plants on a daily basis, 42.2% on a weekly basis, 21.8% on a monthly basis and 6.2% on a yearly basis. The most common reasons for using medicinal plants in the studied elderly are, respectively, 14.8% for diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes, 25.2% for digestive problems, 22.2% for colds, and 29.6% for all the diseases asked. According to the self-report of the elderly studied, 81 (30%) of the elderly had good knowledge of medicinal plants, 136 (50.4%) had moderate knowledge, and 53 (19.6%) had poor knowledge.
Conclusion: The use of medicinal plants in the elderly of the region is not dependent on their knowledge and they tend to use medicinal plants based on traditional beliefs