Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Health Care Practitioners in Nigeria Towards the Use of Plants/Herbal Medicines in the Management of COVID-19

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Nigerian health care practitioners regarding the use of herbal medications in the therapy of COVID-19. This was an online survey of Nigerian healthcare practitioners. To assess the level of relationship among research variables, descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Many (77.1%) respondents are aware of claims of the use of herbal medicines for COVID-19, 22.9% of the respondents reported that herbal medicines can be used as cure for COVID-19 while 41.8% believed that herbal medicines can only be used to manage COVID-19 and its symptoms. Most (67.3%) respondents were of the opinion that herbal medicine use for the management of COVID-19 is controversial while 53.3% reported that the use of herbal medicine to manage COVID-19 cannot be substantiated. Majority (79.6%) doctors, (85.4%) nurses and 84.3% (pharmacist) were willing to support research into safety and efficacy of herbal medicines to manage COVID-19. Respondents' observed knowledge of the usage of herbal remedies for COVID-19 could be attributed to the growing awareness in herbal-based products/medicines.