Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Towards Medicinal Plants among Malaysian Consumers

Nalini Arumugam

doi:10.35248/2167-0412.19.8.341

Abstract

This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of consumers towards medicinal plants (MPs). Besides that, this study also determined the association between consumers demographic profiles and MPs practice. A survey was performed among 300 MP consumers (Kelantan=100, Terengganu=100 and Pahang=100) from East Coast Economic Region (ECER) using self-administered questionnaire. The findings indicated that 52% of consumers are females, Muslims and Malay. Most of them living in rural (67%) than urban (33%) areas. The results from Chi-Square statistic showed that education level (p=0.033) and locality (p=0.008) have significant relationships with the level of knowledge. Marital status has significant relationships with the level of practice (p=0.010) of medicinal plants. A significant difference between the knowledge (p=0.00) and attitude (p=0.00) towards practice of medicinal plants was also found. There was a moderate relationship between consumers’ knowledge on MPs and their practice using MPs (p=0.000), whereas there was a strong relationship between their attitude towards MPs and their practice (p=0.000). This study recorded that consumers’ attitude has a stronger relationship towards their practice compared to the knowledge.

Highlights

Medicinal Plants (MPs) are commonly used by the local people as an alternative for health care
The usage of medicinal plants is categorized under Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
We present the results of the demographic profiles of medicinal plants consumers’, sources of knowledge about medicinal plants, frequency of use, and the medicinal plants that are known by consumers

Summary

Introduction

Medicinal Plants (MPs) are commonly used by the local people as an alternative for health care. The extent to which consumers’ are knowledgeable on the benefits of medicinal plants cannot be ascertained as there is a lack of research being carried out to access the level of knowledge especially in Malaysia context. Furtheremore, the knowledge about medicinal plants were transferred by verbal communication from one generation to another and lead to poor transmission in tranferring the knowledge. Salleh [1] reported that Malaysia imported approximately RM 1.2 billion herbal products for consumption every year. This figure is in rising trend as Rezai et al identify that shifts in lifestyle and self-medication are main factors leading to the rised popularity of herbal medicine among Malaysians [2]. Entrepreneurs should well-versed about herbal purchasing trend of customers for instance how, how much, what and where is the product being bought to be a competitor in the herbal industry [3]

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Conclusion