ArticleBMC complementary medicine and therapies2021
Local experience of using traditional medicine in northern Rwanda: a qualitative study.
Article in BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intellectual Disability Support: Traditional Healers' Views on Collaboration with Western-Trained Healthcare Practitioners.Transcultural psychiatry · 2026Article
- Use of Animal-Derived Products for Medicinal and Belief-Based Purposes in Urban Cities of Southwestern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Frequency of diseases and use of medicinal plants in adults in a rural Peruvian community.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Steps taken by the World Health Organization African Region Member States to standardise herbal medicines: a literature review.Journal of global health · 2025Review
- Perspectives of Patients on Communication and Involvement in Decision-Making during Palliative Care: A Qualitative Study in Rwanda.Rwanda journal of medicine and health sciences · 2025Article
- Use of Traditional Herbal Medicines during Pregnancy in Rwanda: Perspectives from Community Health Workers and Traditional Healers.Rwanda journal of medicine and health sciences · 2025Article
- A qualitative exploration of cultural illness perceptions and barriers to modern healthcare: the case of Ikirimi and traditional uvulectomy in Rwanda.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2025Article
- Ethnomedical Knowledge of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine in Mampa Village, Haut-Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2025Article
- EXPLORING INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL MEASURES USED BY TRADITIONAL PRACTITIONERS IN RWANDA.African journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Eco-Friendly SpeciesACS omega · 2024Article
- Exploring the experiences of traditional practitioners while managing hypertension in Rwanda.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Article
- Do private health providers help achieve Universal Health Coverage? A scoping review of the evidence from low-income countries.Health policy and planning · 2023Article
- Prevalence and reasons to seek traditional healing methods among residents of two localities in North Kordofan State, Sudan 2022: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Adaption and pilot testing of a lay HIV supporter program for traditional healers: a mixed methods study in rural Uganda.Implementation science communications · 2023Article
- Social Marketing Strategy to Promote Traditional Thai Medicines during COVID-19: KAP and DoI Two-Step Theory Application Process.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Linking coping strategies to locally-perceived aetiologies of mental distress in northern Rwanda.BMJ global health · 2020Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe popular use of traditional medicine in low-income settings has previously been attributed to poverty, lack of education, and insufficient accessibility to conventional health service. However, in many countries, including in Rwanda, the use of traditional medicine is still popular despite the good accessibility and availability of conventional health services. This study aims to explore why traditional medicine is popularly used in Rwanda where it has achieved universal health coverage.
methodsThe qualitative study, which included in-depth interviews and participant observations, investigated the experience of using traditional medicine as well as the perceived needs and reasons for its use in the Musanze district of northern Rwanda. We recruited 21 participants (15 community members and 6 traditional healers) for in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate common themes and coding schemes.
resultsOur findings suggest that the characteristics of traditional medicine are responding to community members' health, social and financial needs which are insufficiently met by the current conventional health services. Participants used traditional medicine particularly to deal with culture-specific illness - uburozi. To treat uburozi appropriately, referrals from hospitals to traditional healers took place spontaneously.
conclusionsIn Rwanda, conventional health services universally cover diseases that are diagnosed by the standard of conventional medicine. However, this universal health coverage may not sufficiently respond patients' social and financial needs arising from the health needs. Given this, integrating traditional medicine into national health systems, with adequate regulatory framework for quality control, would be beneficial to meet patients' needs.
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