Comparative Assessment of Traditional Medicine Utilizations in Three Adjacent Districts of East Hararghe, Ethiopia

Abstract

Traditional medicine (TM) is the earliest culturally-based alternative medicine extensively practised as a primary health care system in developing countries. The current study was designed to make the comparative assessment of TM utilization from three adjacent districts of east Hararghe, Ethiopia using a community-based cross sectional study. Study participants were selected using the systematic random sampling technique method until the required sample size was reached in each district. The majority of the respondents from the three districts were rural households, Muslims, 31 to 40 years old, illiterate, male-headed with seven or more family-sized households and had less than 1000 birr monthly income. The most frequently used homegrown TM remedies were Allium sativum (69.17%, 67.13%, and 68.42%), Capsicum spp (67.14%, 68.43%, and 69.33%), Guizotia arborescens (61.52%, 63.19%, and 59.17%) and Ocimum lamiifolium (59.11%, 61.13%, and 60.19%) in Haramaya, Meta and Kombolcha districts, respectively. Family and friends were the most trusted sources of information in utilizing TM. The highest commonly occurring diseases were diarrhoea, fever, Malaria and common colds. The majority of respondents used TM through the use of traditional healers (THs). Sick people in the community were treated at the serious stage of the illness. Grandmothers/fathers served as THs and they used herbs made in liquid form to treat the sick. The major factor impeding the respondents not to use modern health facilities are inaccessibility and unaffordability of western medicine and culturally accepted TM utilization in primary health care system the districts. Keywords: TM, Homemade remedies, Haramaya, Meta, Kombolcha, east Hararghe, Ethiopia.