Complementray medicine seeking behaviour among Sudanese infertile women

Abstract

Background This study was conducted in Sudan, which is a sub-Saharan Africa country with similar problems regarding infertility, to explore the perspectives of currently married infertile Sudanese women on complementray medicine seeking behaviour with more emphasis on traditional self-management strategies. Methods A cross-sectional survey involving 203 infertile women in Khartoum, Sudan, using a convenient sampling method at the women’s visits of infertility treatment clinics. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Results Findings of the study revealed that 43.3% of participated women had rich experience with infertility self-management strategies, and 65.0% of them used these strategies to treat infertility. Also 59.1% of the participants mentioned unaffordability of modern treatment as a main factor for trying self-management strategies. 45.3% of the participating women believe that the best strategy for self-management of infertility is Qura’an and Sunna treatment provided by Shaikh. Only 42.9% of the participants agreed with the statement that their ‘cognitive knowledge about self-management of infertility does not encourage its use’. Conclusion The study revealed women’s rich experience and wide use of different types of self-management strategies together with formal infertility health care services either simultaneously or subsequently. Also, unaffordability of formal treatment services was reported as one of the most encouraging factors towards seeking traditional treatment options. Therefore, most important literature gap this study hoped to fill is its focus on traditional treatment strategies of infertility, and thereby, can help policy makers and public health activists tailor more efficient plans to handle this complicated problem.