The Study of Pattern of Use of Orthodox and Herbal Medicine among Non-academic Staff of a Nigerian University

Aim: To study the pattern of use of orthodox and herbal medicine among non-academic staff of a Nigerian University.

Study Design: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which a multistage sampling technique was employed.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the main campus of University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State, Nigeria between January and June, 2017.

Methods: A total of 425 respondents were recruited in this investigation. Information gathered through the use of structured self-administered questionnaire was subjected to descriptive analysis.

Results: Hypertension (39.81%) was the common health condition recorded. Only 42.8% of the population sampled visits clinic when sick, 33.41% engage in orthodox self-medication, 19.4% practice herbal self-medication while 3.8% consults herbal practitioners for treatments. A total of 42.2% respondents do combine herbal and orthodox medicine to achieve better cure (60.7%) or quick recovery (38%). More than 87% had history of herbal medicine use, in treating ailments such as malaria and pile (78.3%) while 21.1% used both orthodox and herbal treatment simultaneously. 54% showed preference for orthodox drugs compared to 46% that preferred herbal treatments. The respondents were mostly introduced to the use of herbal medicine by family (44.2%) and friends (15.5%). However, 76.7.5% was optimistic of possible drug interaction in the combined herbal and orthodox drugs use but only 12.1% intimated their doctors of the initial herbal medicine used.

Conclusion: This study showed the practice of combined herbal-orthodox drug use among the participants, despite their knowledge of the associated risk. Therefore, there is need to further educate the populace about the health risk of herbal-orthodox drug combination while the health professionals have to proactively enquire and counsel patients regarding the potentials of adverse effect, drug toxicities and drug interaction.