| Title |
The use of traditional medicine in maternity care among African women in Africa and the diaspora: a systematic review
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, August 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12906-017-1886-x |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Zewdneh Shewamene, Tinashe Dune, Caroline A. Smith |
| Abstract |
There is a paucity of literature describing traditional health practices and beliefs of African women. The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the use of traditional medicine (TM) to address maternal and reproductive health complaints and wellbeing by African women in Africa and the diaspora. A literature search of published articles, grey literature and unpublished studies was conducted using eight medical and social science databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, Infomit, Ovid Medline, ProQuest, PsychINFO, PubMed and SCOPUS) from the inception of each database until 31 December 2016. Critical appraisal was conducted using a quality assessment tool (QAT). A total of 20 studies conducted in 12 African countries representing 11,858 women were included. No literature was found on African women in the diaspora related to maternal use of TM or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The prevalence of TM use among the African women was as high as 80%. The most common TM used was herbal medicine for reasons related to treatment of pregnancy related symptoms. Frequent TM users were pregnant women with no formal education, low income, and living far from public health facilities. Lack of access to the mainstream maternity care was the major determining factor for use of TM. TM is widely used by African women for maternal and reproductive health issues due to lack of access to the mainstream maternity care. Further research is required to examine the various types of traditional and cultural health practices (other than herbal medicine), the beliefs towards TM, and the health seeking behaviors of African women in Africa and the diaspora. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 324 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 324 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 53 | 16% |
| Student > Bachelor | 36 | 11% |
| Researcher | 29 | 9% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 25 | 8% |
| Lecturer | 19 | 6% |
| Other | 61 | 19% |
| Unknown | 101 | 31% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing and Health Professions | 53 | 16% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 50 | 15% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 28 | 9% |
| Social Sciences | 19 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 11 | 3% |
| Other | 55 | 17% |
| Unknown | 108 | 33% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 August 2017.
All research outputs
#18,566,650
of 22,996,001 outputs
Outputs from BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
#2,523
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Outputs of similar age
#243,218
of 317,618 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
#83
of 131 outputs
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