Agyei-Baffour Peter, Kudolo Agnes, Quansah Dan Yedu, Boateng Daniel
School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Kumasi Anglican Senior High School, Kumasi, Ghana.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Dec 1;17(1):513. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-2025-4.
Although there are current efforts to integrate herbal medicine (HM) into mainstream healthcare in Ghana, there is paucity of empirical evidence on the acceptability and concurrent use of HM, in the formal health facilities in Ghana. This study sought to determine client perception, disclosure and acceptability of integrating herbal medicine in mainstream healthcare in Kumasi, Ghana.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August, 2015. Five hundred patients presenting at the outpatient departments of Kumasi South, Suntreso and Tafo Government Hospitals in Kumasi were randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with the use of structured questionnaires. A logistic regression analysis, using backward selection, was conducted to determine the influence of socio-demographic and facility related factors on the odds of using HM at the facility. All statistical tests were two-sided and considered significant at a p-value of <0.05.
Majority of the study respondents were females (64.8%) and the median age was 36 years. Less than half, 42.2%, of the respondents utilized HM services when they visited the health facility. Reasons for using HM at the facility level included 'being effective' (24.4%), 'easy to access' (25.3%) and 'being comparatively cheaper' (16%). About 86% never disclosed previous use of HM to their health care providers. Socio-economic status and perception of service provision influenced use of herbal medicines. Respondents who rated themselves wealthy had increased odds of using herbal medicines at the health facility as compared to those who rated themselves poor (OR = 4.9; 95%CI = 1.6-15.3).
This study shows that integration of herbal medicine is feasible and herbal medicines may be generally accepted as a formal source of healthcare in Ghana. The results of this study might serve as a basis for improvement and upscale of the herbal medicine integration programme in Ghana.
尽管目前加纳正在努力将草药医学（HM）纳入主流医疗保健体系，但在加纳的正规医疗机构中，关于草药医学的可接受性和同时使用情况的实证证据却很少。本研究旨在确定加纳库马西地区患者对将草药医学纳入主流医疗保健的认知、披露情况和接受程度。
于2015年5月至8月进行了一项横断面研究。从库马西市南部、孙特雷索和塔福政府医院的门诊部随机选取了500名患者。采用结构化问卷进行访谈。运用向后选择法进行逻辑回归分析，以确定社会人口统计学和机构相关因素对在该机构使用草药医学几率的影响。所有统计检验均为双侧检验，p值<0.05时被认为具有统计学意义。
研究的大多数受访者为女性（64.8%），中位年龄为36岁。不到一半（42.2%）的受访者在前往医疗机构就诊时使用过草药医学服务。在机构层面使用草药医学的原因包括“有效”（24.4%）、“易于获取”（25.3%）和“相对便宜”（16%）。约86%的人从未向其医疗服务提供者透露过之前使用草药医学的情况。社会经济地位和对服务提供的认知影响了草药医学的使用。与自我评价为贫困的受访者相比，自我评价为富有的受访者在医疗机构使用草药医学的几率更高（OR = 4.9；95%CI = 1.6 - 15.3）。
本研究表明，草药医学的整合是可行的，并且在加纳，草药医学可能被普遍接受为一种正规的医疗保健来源。本研究结果可为加纳草药医学整合项目的改进和升级提供依据。
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