The use of oral herbal medicine by women attending antenatal clinics in urban and rural Tanga District in Tanzania.

Abstract

A prospective study on the use of oral herbal medicine was conducted on 214 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in urban and rural Tanga district, which is well-known for traditional healers. There is a perception that traditional healers are very respected locally, and should be cooperated with. However herb effects range from therapeutic to dangerous. The overall prevalence rate of use of herbal medicine was 42%. The prevalence in urban and rural areas was 43.3% and 40.2% respectively. The highest use rate was towards the end of the 1st trimester and during labor, for a total of 87.7%. Of the users, 54% did so to relieve pregnancy-associated symptoms, while the rest used it as a consequence of beliefs, possibly superstitious, circumstantial constraints, and combinations of these. Significant differences were found between women delivering at home (55% used herbal medicine) and in a modern health facility (38.8%), P=0.038, between Moslems (44.4%) and Christians (32.2%), P=0.22, and among tribes. It seems that oral herbal medicines are commonly used in pregnancies and childbirth in Tanga, as well as in other areas, Bagamoyo being an example. Fear of the health facility eivironment as being a place for dying is an interesting factor. A form of Koranic medicine known as Kombe, which included the use of Quranic inscriptions, was used widely. It is recommended that immediate and long-term outcomes of herb-tested pregnancies be evaluated. Phytochemical, toxicological, and pharmacological studies are necessary to enable health workers to warn against inappropriate and dangerous usage.