ArticlePloS one2022
Perceptions and use of traditional African medicine in Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province (DR Congo): A cross-sectional study.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Integration of traditional and complementary medicine into primary health care systems: a systematic review.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Pooled it
- Migrant and ethnic inequalities in cervical cancer screening: exploring the role of cultural health capital using data from the Belgian Health Interview Survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Perceptions, Causes and Treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition, Mbuji-Mayi, Kasai-Oriental, Democratic Republic of the Congo.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Benefits of Traditional Medicinal Plants to African Women's Health: An Overview of the Literature.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Science-spirituality Nexus: Religion and the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Tanzania.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Article
- Ethnomedical Knowledge of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine in Mampa Village, Haut-Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2025Article
- Facility capacity and provider knowledge for cholera surveillance and diarrhoea case management in cholera hotspots in the Democratic Republic of Congo - a mixed-methods study.Global health action · 2024Article
- Tracing the Disparity Between Healthcare Policy-Based Infrastructure and Health Belief-Lead Practices: a Narrative Review on Indigenous Populations of India.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Review
- Ethnomedical knowledge of plants used in alternative medicine to treat hemorrhoidal diseases in Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province, Southern Democratic Republic of Congo.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Ethnomedical Knowledge of Plants Used in Nonconventional Medicine for Wound Healing in Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga Province, DR Congo.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2024Article
- Exploring different health care providers´ perceptions on the management of diarrhoea in cholera hotspots in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A qualitative content analysis.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Understanding the mix of services for mental health care in urban DR Congo: a qualitative descriptive study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the desire of the Ministry of Health to integrate Traditional African Medicine into the Official Health System remains limited by the lack of reliable data on several aspects of this medicine. This study aims to determine the perceptions of the Lubumbashi population towards Traditional African Medicine and the contexts of recourse to these therapeutic modalities. We conducted semi-structured interviews of population samples in each of the 7 Lubumbashi municipalities, which were semi-randomly selected in proportions to each population size, from January to June 2017 and from February to July 2018. A total of 4278 people (average age, 32.1 ± 10.4 years; 36.5% of women) have been surveyed. Among them, 75.8% define "Traditional African Medicine" as "herbal-based treatments"; 79.4% have resorted to traditional medicine, for several pathologies and social problems. This medicine was preferred for efficiency, speed of healing and low cost, as well as the presence of the diseases against which it would be the only one used. Most, (52.1%) have started with Conventional Medicine, then resorted to Traditional African Medicine, 34.7% started directly with Traditional African Medicine, while 13.2% combined these two medicines. From those who have resorted to Traditional African Medicine (n = 3396), 55% declare no concern towards traditional medicine, while 42.5% fear looseness, overdose, intoxication, and lack of hygiene; from those who have not resorted to Traditional African Medicine (n = 882), 78% are fearful of fear looseness, witchcraft, and fetishism. Traditional African Medicine remains an important health care resource for the Lubumbashi people. It is essential that decision-makers consider the importance of this health sector for the population, but also the reported fears and hindrances, and work towards the regulation, sanitization, and control of this medicine to ensure its safe use.
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