CONTRIBUTIONS OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN THE WEST MAMPRUSI MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Traditional medicine has been used alongside modern medicine for decades. Despite the increasing use of orthodox medicine in Ghana, many continue to rely on herbal medicine for their healthcare needs. The study aimed to investigate the contributions and challenges of traditional medicine in the health care delivery system in the West Mamprusi Municipality. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional study with a mixed-method approach. Data for the study was collected using questionnaires, key informant, interviews and Focus Group Discussion FGDs using the Snowballing sampling techniques. Data were analysed using TCA and SPSS for qualitative and quantitative data respectively. The study engaged 270 participants for the quantitative data and conducted 3 FGDs with the community members and 8 in-depth interviews with traditional medicine practitioners. The mean age of the participants was 36.4 with a standard deviation of 8.5. Majority (77.4%) of the participant were males who reside mainly in the rural areas (90.4%). The study revealed the following as contributions of herbal medicine to the health care needs of people; short distance to access health, affordability, appreciate and accept the healing process, attends to disease holistically and reduce the risk of death. Majority (56.30%) viewed herbal medicine as effective with 29.6% having experienced some adverse effect upon using herbs. Majority (75.20%) have used herbs before. Currently, only 32.6% are still using herbs. Reasons for using herbs include; accessibility (23.4%), affordability (35.9%), effectiveness (27.3%) and also in line with religion (13.3%). Most of the participant use herbs once in a while (39.4%), sometimes (34.2%), rarely or never (20.6%) and 5.8% used herbs always or anytime they are sick. Majority (70.4%) recognised that there were some challenges in using herbs. The challenges included; no standardization of dosage of drugs (55.6%), herbs prepared without a test (63.0), subjective diagnosis process (44.1%), a preparatory process not hygienic (64.1%). Traditional medicine solves the problem of affordability and availability while modern medicine provides evidence-based practice and speciality diseases herbal medicine cannot treat. This suggests the need to understand the understanding of strengths and weaknesses of each and encourage the provision of the best therapeutic option for patients. To this conclusion, the Government must also see the integration of traditional medicine with an orthodox practice in healthcare service delivery