Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the use of herbal medicines in Nsukka community and determine the adverse reactions associated with this practice.Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 120 persons was conducted in Ogige market, Nsukka using selfadministered questionnaires. Outcomes measured included proportion of respondents who use herbal medicines and their reasons, their perception on the safety and effectiveness of the medicines, their purchasing habits of the medicines, those who recommend the medicines, and adverse reactions to them. Frequency analysis and Pearson’s correlation test were conducted with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.Results: Less than half of the respondents (43.2%) took herbal medicines without consulting a health professional, and more than 60 % of them believed that herbal medicines are safe and effective. Only 47.4 % of the respondents claimed to have ever experienced mild adverse effects following the use of the medicines which were resolved with advice sought from health professionals. Stooling and vomiting were the major reported adverse effects. Older respondents had a better perception on the safety of herbal medicines (p = 0.005) and are less likely to tell their health professionals that they are already taking herbal medicines when orthodox medicines are prescribed/recommended for them. High-income earners spent more on herbal medicines (p = 0.029) than others.Conclusion: Many respondents use herbal medicines without consulting a health professional. However, most of them seek advice from health professionals when adverse effects result from these medicines during use.Keywords: Adverse effects, health professionals, herbal medicines use, Nsukka community
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined herbal medicines as “herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, or other plant materials, or combinations” [1]
The use of the herbal medicines is popular, more than half of the respondents spent less than ₦500 monthly on the medicines most probably because of their poor earnings as majority of them earned below ₦ 50,000 monthly
The reliance on family members or friends to recommend the use of herbal medicine as observed in this study follows the path of traditional use of medicines as most of them did not feel they require advice from a health professional to use herbal medicines [14]
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined herbal medicines as “herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, or other plant materials, or combinations” [1]. Herbal products do not have to meet the quality control measures applicable to orthodox medicines [3]. While they may be useful in treating different ailments [7,8,9], they may be associated with various adverse reactions. This absence of uniform product standardization has raised some concerns [11,12]. The objective of this study was to ascertain the use of herbal medicines by Nsukka community in Enugu State and to determine adverse reactions associated with this practice
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