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Young people's opinions about herbal medicines in a suburban district of

Central Uganda

Article  in  International Health · June 2014

DOI: 10.1093/inthealth/ihu036 · Source: PubMed

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 International Health Advance Access published June 26, 2014

Int Health
doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihu036

Young people’s opinions about herbal medicines in a suburban district

COMMUNICATION
of Central Uganda

SHORT
David Lawrencea, Helen Smitha, Enoch Magalab and Maxwell Coopera,*
a
Division of Primary Care and Public Health, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Brighton, Falmer, East Sussex BN1 9PH, UK;
b
Centre for Youth Driven Development Initiatives, Ndazabazadde, Wakiso, PO Box 28807, Kampala, Uganda

*Corresponding author: Tel: +44 1273 643768; E-mail: m.cooper@bsms.ac.uk

Downloaded from http://inthealth.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Sussex on October 15, 2014

Received 15 January 2014; revised 29 May 2014; accepted 29 May 2014

Background: Herbal medication is the most commonly used form of healthcare in Africa. However, little is known
about its use by young Africans in the urban context
Methods: This qualitative study explored opinions about herbal medicine and its uses among young people in the
Wakiso district, Uganda.
Results: About a third of interview participants reported using herbal products, a choice influenced by religious
faith, family preference, low cost and unavailability of biomedicines. Two participants stated that herbs could
be used to deter alcohol dependence.
Conclusions: This study indicated divergent opinions about the value of herbal medicine among young urban
Ugandans.

Keywords: Herbal medicine, Traditional medicine, Uganda, Young people

Introduction version 9 (QSR International, Doncaster, VIC, Australia) and exam-

About 80% of Africa’s population depend upon traditional pro-
ducts for healthcare.1 Common indications in Uganda include
malaria, cough, headache, diarrhoea, body pains and eye dis-
eases.2 Preference for herbal medications results from easy
access,3 low cost,3 cultural acceptability,3 limited access to hospi-
tals/biomedicines3 and a belief in its efficacy or reduced side-
effects.4 It is known that urbanisation is eroding the indigenous
knowledge of herbs.2 Herbal use among young people, including
suburban East Africans, is poorly researched and observational
methods to do so are problematic. To gain insight into their behav-
iour this study sought to ask young Ugandans about their use of
medicinal herbs.
Methods
This research formed part of a larger semi-structured interview
(17 participants) and focus group (61 participants) study conducted
in Wakiso district, Uganda, in 2013. Participants were aged
15–24 years (the Ugandan government’s definition of youth). Inter-
views explored how health services could better meet the needs of
young people and were conducted in English or Luganda, according
to participant preference. Data were transcribed verbatim and
translated by DL and EM. The translation accuracy was verified by
a bilingual speaker. Transcriptions were coded with NVivo
ined by DL and MC using content-analysis5 to identify themes
emerging from the data. Figure 1 illustrates the method used in
the study.
Results
Of the 17 interview participants (9 male and 8 female) who were
directly asked about herbal medicine use, 6 (35%; 6/17) reported
personal use of such products (3 male and 3 female). A preference
for traditional medicine was reported to be stronger among older
people compared to young people. However, some participants
expressed strong opinions that they would never use herbal pro-
ducts. Reasons included that such products were ineffective and
that healers might be profiteering by selling ordinary plants as
medicines. One participant stated that he could not take herbal
products because, ‘I’m a born again [Christian] so I cannot go
there.’
Further concern was expressed that the ‘wrong’ medicine
would be issued, that traditional healers failed to provide instruc-
tions on dosage and that herbs needed to be boiled for ‘hygienic’
reasons. Justifications for taking herbal products were their low
cost, making treatment available, ‘if we don’t have money.’
They were also considered to be something to try before bio-
medical products, or when these were unavailable. One

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D. Lawrence et al.
Figure 1. Study method and major findings relating to herbal medicine
use among young people in Wakiso district, Uganda.
participant stated that herbal medication had been recom-
mended by her parents. A further reason for use was the
natural origin of herbal products:
They can say ‘maybe, let me go there, I can’t take a tablet
because it’s from the industry, let me take this [herbal product],
the fresh one (male interview participant, aged 19 years).
Respondents cited ‘no[n]-serious’ indications for herbal remedies
that were symptom or organ-based: headache, eye problems,
stomach, pains, leg pains and cough. It was also reported that
herbal medication could be taken for specific diagnoses, including
serious ones such as malaria, skin diseases (e.g., ringworm) and
heart problems. In the context of injuries, herbal products were
stated to be used to treat simple fractures and to prevent bleed-
ing. Only a few participants named products that they had used
themselves. These included ginger tea for asthma and mango
leaves for the following indications:
The mango tree leaves, they help to boost one’s, should I call
it, resistance against this flu and malaria. So, if you feel the
temperature is going high, you may use that (male interview
participant, aged 15 years).
Two participants also reported an indication for herbal medication
in tackling alcohol addiction. It was said that this could be added
secretly to the drink of an excessive user of alcohol in order to
curtail the habit. The way this was stated to work as follows:
You squeeze that herb, you put in the alcohol and the person
drinks [it and then] you [i.e. they] vomit it out (male focus
group participant, aged 17 years).
Discussion
This study is limited by its small sample size, mainly in-school
setting and the potential influence of the researcher’s identity
2 of 2
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as a white, male doctor. It supports evidence that a preference
for herbal medicine is influenced by religious belief,1 parental
knowledge, low cost and limited access to biomedicine.2 It iden-
tified a range of illnesses for which herbal medicines might be
used, similar to those reported in rural areas.2 These findings
have implications for patient safety, especially given the young
age of participants. Further research should explore how young
Africans access herbal medicines, in particular whether these
are foraged or purchased from a healer. Finally, it offers circum-
stantial evidence that herbal products are administered covertly
to drinkers in an attempt to curtail excessive alcohol consump-
tion. Additional research is needed to explore and quantify
the role of traditional medicines in tackling alcohol addiction in
East Africa.
Downloaded from http://inthealth.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Sussex on October 15, 2014
Conclusions
This indicates a range of views among suburban youth in Uganda
over the perceived value of herbal medicines. These were used by
about one third of participants. Given the emphatic way that
certain individuals dismissed herbal medicine, it is possible that
use is undisclosed and even more common than this.
Authors’ contributions: DL, MC and HS conceptualised the study; DL and
EM conducted all field research; DL and MC conducted data analysis; MC
drafted the manuscript and DL and HS revised it. All authors read and
approved the final manuscript. DL is the guarantor of the paper.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: None declared.
Ethical approval: Ethical approval was obtained from Brighton and
Sussex Medical School Research Governance and Ethics Committee in
the UK [13/091/SMI] and Makerere University School of Health Sciences
Institutional Review Board [2013–046].
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