Doctors’ attitudes towards the use of herbal medicine in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is the second of a two part study looking at the integration of herbal medicine into the Nigerian Healthcare System. This study continues by establishing doctors’ attitudes towards the use of herbal medicine in Lagos and elucidating the possible factors that may limit their interest in the use of herbal medicine. A descriptive survey was carried out using a WHO standardized questionnaire to obtain the opinion of 300 resident doctors in various specialties at Lagos University Teaching Hospital. The results showed that 60.0% (n=181) of the respondents were disposed towards the use of herbal medicine, 40.7% (n=122) said however that they would discourage their patients from using it. The results further showed that 62.0% (n=186) of the respondents felt herbal medicine had a positive role in patients care; should be recognized by the government 28% (n-84) and that it is generally safe for consumption by patients 60.3% (n=181). Although 41.0% (n=123) of the respondents thought herbal medicine was effective in treating chronic diseases, none of the respondents thought herbal medicine alone could completely treat a patient. None of the respondents thought the level of research into herbal medicine was adequate and the level of education for herbal medicine practitioners was thought in the main to be inadequate. Extensive research into the ethnomedicinal preparations in common use to ensure patient safety and minimize risk and an improvement of educational standards in the training of herbal medicine practitioners may be needed before total integration into the Healthcare System can be contemplated.