Exploring the unknown Home based remedies and the Unani perspective among Muslim population of Pune city, India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: From the religious context also herbal medicines and alternative therapies have found mythological references. As far as Islam is concerned, the Arab healers infused their knowledge of Unani system to the world, greatly prevalent in the Indian sub- continent. We present a survey on the same lines highlighting the prevalence of use of herbal medicines among city dwellers of Pune city, India. Material and Methods: This survey was carried out at the behest of AYUSH department for the sole purpose of helping the government in understanding the use of home based herbal medicines under the Unani perspective in Pune. Geographical sampling was done and among the selected communities a door to door interviewer survey was carried out. Results:Total sample size was 84. . Most of them seeked health care from the private clinicians followed by government hospitals. There was no statistical significant difference between the male and the female participants related to the awareness regarding Unani system (?2= 3.4564. p= .06). There were more females who preferred Unani medicine than males and this was statistically significant (?2= 8.7736, p= .003056). Unani medicines were used for a number of reasons like headache and stomach related problems. Conclusion:The survey data shows the positive attitude of the people at the same time highlights the lacunae present in the knowledge of the common man towards Unani medicines which contributes on a large scale to the failure of demand of such an untapped alterative health care approach: