Community perception twoards traditional medicine in Nasr - City [Cairo]

ABSTRACT

This work aimed to assess the community perception as regards knowledge, attitude and use of traditional remedies in Nasr City, Cairo, where all person attending El-Hay El-Sades, PHC Center, were interviewed during one month [October 2003] with a pre-tested questionnaire. 35.6% of the total studied sample had used traditional remedies, mostly herbs [88.3%] with higher prevalence among females [56.1%], older people [56.9%], educated persons [53.5%] and higher socio-economic ones [80.0%]. A strong belief in herbs as an efficient therapy was reported by 54.3% of persons, especially among educated persons [81.7%] in contrast to cautery and bone setting, where the predominant attitude was that these are harmful as reported by 60% and 58% of the sample, respectively. It was also found that three- quarters of the responders did not consult any conventional health care before using these remedies, and 80% of the remaining quarter did not get good benefit from consultation