Centre for Research in Medical Pharmacology, University of Insubria, Via Monte Generoso, n. 71, 21100, Varese, Italy.
Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Phytochemistry, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
AIDS Behav. 2019 Aug;23(8):2088-2100. doi: 10.1007/s10461-018-02388-2.
People living with HIV (PLHIV) in Cameroon often seek care from traditional health practitioners (THPs) and use medicinal plants (MP). Most MP, however, still lacks evidence for their efficacy and safety, and their use, often undisclosed to referring physicians, may interfere with standard therapies. Therefore, we conducted a survey of 247 PLHIV in Dschang to assess the determinants, prevalence and trend of MP use. Besides, we surveyed 16 THPs about the use of MP in PLHIV and HIV-related knowledge. 54.9% PLHIV declared using in total 70 plants, 91.3% users were satisfied with MP, and unwanted effects were reported in 2 cases. MP users were less educated than nonusers, had longer disease duration and were more often unemployed. Only 3 THPs used MP in PLHIV, and most of them had insufficient knowledge of HIV. Results may be useful for education on HIV and integration of traditional medicines with conventional therapeutics.
喀麦隆的艾滋病毒感染者（PLHIV）经常寻求传统卫生从业者（THP）的治疗并使用药用植物（MP）。然而，大多数 MP 的疗效和安全性仍缺乏证据，而且它们的使用（通常未向转介医生披露）可能会干扰标准治疗。因此，我们对 Dschang 的 247 名 PLHIV 进行了调查，以评估 MP 使用的决定因素、流行率和趋势。此外，我们还调查了 16 名 THP 关于 PLHIV 中 MP 的使用和 HIV 相关知识。共有 54.9%的 PLHIV 宣称总共使用了 70 种植物，91.3%的使用者对 MP 感到满意，有 2 例报告了不良反应。MP 用户的受教育程度低于非使用者，患病时间更长，失业的情况更为常见。只有 3 名 THP 在 PLHIV 中使用了 MP，他们中的大多数人对 HIV 的了解不足。这些结果可能有助于进行 HIV 教育，并将传统药物与常规疗法相结合。
