Attitudes and use of medicinal plants during pregnancy among women at health care centers in three regions of Mali, West-Africa

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough, medicinal plants have been important for women’s health historically, the knowledge about such use during pregnancy in developing countries is limited. This is the first quantitative, ethnobotanical study on Malian women’s use of and attitudes towards the use of medicinal plants during pregnancy.The aim of the study was to describe Malian women’s use of medicinal plants during pregnancy according to indications and to evaluate the potentially safety of such use. The overall aim was to preserve valuable information about medicinal plants for women’s reproductive health for the future.MethodsData was collected through structured interviews of 209 pregnant women or mothers in three health care centers in Mali. The women were interviewed about their uses of medicinal plants during pregnancy and their attitudes to such use. Nine specific medicinal plants commonly used in Mali and treatment of eleven common ailments in pregnancy were specifically queried about.ResultsIn total, 79.9 % had used medicinal plants during pregnancy. Only 17 women (8.5 %) had received a recommendation from a traditional practitioner (TP). The most commonly used medicinal plants were Lippia chevalieri (55.5 %), Combretum micranthum (39.7 %), Parkia biglobosa (12.0 %) and Vepris heterophylla (8.1 %). The most common reasons for use were for well-being (37.7 %), symptoms of malaria (37.1 %) and ”increased salt-elimination” (to reduce edema) (19.2 %). For treatment of symptoms of malaria and urinary tract infections during pregnancy, the women’s choices of medicinal plants agreed with those previously reported from interviews with TPs. Almost 30 % believed that medicinal plants had no adverse effects for the mother.ConclusionThis study showed an extensive use and knowledge of medicinal plants during pregnancy in three regions in Mali. However, exclusive use of medicinal plants as treatment of malaria and urinary tract infections during pregnancy may pose a health risk for the mother and her unborn child. A wider collaboration with TPs, with local communities and conventional health workers of the health care centers, on the safe use of medicinal plants, is important to promote safer pregnancies and better health care for pregnant women and their unborn infants in Mali.

Herbal medicine use and its associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Wollega University Referral Hospital, West Ethiopia.

“…This difference can be due to inter cultural and accessibility variance of herbal medicine across countries which influence their use. Also our current finding of herbal medicine use lower than a study conducted in Mali were 79.9.% use herbal medicine (17). This variation might occurs due to disease prevalence between the study areas since malaria symptoms is common in Mali study which encourage use of medicinal plants to treat malaria.…”

Use of Herbal Medicine by Pregnant Women: What Physicians Need to Know

“…No particular trends have been revealed by researchers (Nordeng and Havnen, 2004;Rahman et al, 2008;Tabatabaee, 2011;Tang et al, 2016). In some cases, the women simply continued using the herbal products until they "felt better" (Nergard et al, 2015).…”

Traditional, complementary and alternative medicine use in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

“…84 TCAM users were also found to be younger (<30 years) 84 98 and married 84 98 compared with non-TCAM users. 24 Meanwhile, three studies from Zambia, 82 Mali 90 and Ethiopia 83 reported no sociodemographic difference between TCAM users and non-users. With regard to TCAM use during childbirth, two studies drawn from a large sample of Nigerian women show TCAM users are likely to be women who are less educated, from low socioeconomic background, Muslim and primiparous.…”