Cargando…
Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study
BACKGROUND: Globally, use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is often associated with adverse obstetric outcomes such as uterine rupture and fetal distress. However, in rural Malawi, information on the perceptions of women about the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is u...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10158248/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37143030 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02387-z |
_version_ | 1785036893219454976 |
---|---|
author | Makombe, Dziwenji Thombozi, Enalla Chilemba, Winnie Mboma, Alexander Banda, Kondwani Joseph Mwakilama, Elias |
author_facet | Makombe, Dziwenji Thombozi, Enalla Chilemba, Winnie Mboma, Alexander Banda, Kondwani Joseph Mwakilama, Elias |
author_sort | Makombe, Dziwenji |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Globally, use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is often associated with adverse obstetric outcomes such as uterine rupture and fetal distress. However, in rural Malawi, information on the perceptions of women about the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is underreported despite the practice. Understanding women’s views and perceptions on use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is therefore critical for understanding the basis of their practice and for setting up maternal and neonatal health care interventions to alleviate any possible pregnancy and labour complications. AIMS: To explore the perceptions of women on the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour in rural Malawi. METHODS: We employed a qualitative descriptive (QD) study on the purposively identified participants (women with parity [Formula: see text] ), residing in four villages (Kagona, Champsinja, Mthupi and Manja) of Traditional Authority Malili, in Lilongwe rural district, Malawi. Qualitative data was collected through four Focus Groups of 6–8 women in each group that were conducted in each village. Data analysis was performed inductively, using reflexive thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: A total of 28 women of reproductive age 20 and above; 20–24 (32.14%), married (75%), average of 3 deliveries (57.14%), primary school education (75.0%), and Christians (92.86%) were recruited and interviewed. Two main themes emerged from the narratives: (1) perceived benefits of using herbal medicine: (i) hastens labour, (ii) prevents pregnancy complications and (iii) prevents and treats illnesses, and (2) perceived risks of using herbal medicine: (i) perceived maternal risks, (ii) perceived fetal risks. CONCLUSION: In rural Malawi, the practice of using herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is perceived as both risky and beneficial to women. These perceptions are shaped by the exposure to either personal or other people’s experiences, hence the continued practice. Therefore, inclusion of health education topics on maternal complications due to use of herbal medicine among women can help reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rates in rural Malawi. Further research is also warranted to explore accessibility and community pathway systems for herbal medicine use during pregnancy and labour among the pregnant women. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12905-023-02387-z. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10158248 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101582482023-05-05 Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study Makombe, Dziwenji Thombozi, Enalla Chilemba, Winnie Mboma, Alexander Banda, Kondwani Joseph Mwakilama, Elias BMC Womens Health Research BACKGROUND: Globally, use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is often associated with adverse obstetric outcomes such as uterine rupture and fetal distress. However, in rural Malawi, information on the perceptions of women about the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is underreported despite the practice. Understanding women’s views and perceptions on use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is therefore critical for understanding the basis of their practice and for setting up maternal and neonatal health care interventions to alleviate any possible pregnancy and labour complications. AIMS: To explore the perceptions of women on the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour in rural Malawi. METHODS: We employed a qualitative descriptive (QD) study on the purposively identified participants (women with parity [Formula: see text] ), residing in four villages (Kagona, Champsinja, Mthupi and Manja) of Traditional Authority Malili, in Lilongwe rural district, Malawi. Qualitative data was collected through four Focus Groups of 6–8 women in each group that were conducted in each village. Data analysis was performed inductively, using reflexive thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: A total of 28 women of reproductive age 20 and above; 20–24 (32.14%), married (75%), average of 3 deliveries (57.14%), primary school education (75.0%), and Christians (92.86%) were recruited and interviewed. Two main themes emerged from the narratives: (1) perceived benefits of using herbal medicine: (i) hastens labour, (ii) prevents pregnancy complications and (iii) prevents and treats illnesses, and (2) perceived risks of using herbal medicine: (i) perceived maternal risks, (ii) perceived fetal risks. CONCLUSION: In rural Malawi, the practice of using herbal medicine during pregnancy and labour is perceived as both risky and beneficial to women. These perceptions are shaped by the exposure to either personal or other people’s experiences, hence the continued practice. Therefore, inclusion of health education topics on maternal complications due to use of herbal medicine among women can help reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rates in rural Malawi. Further research is also warranted to explore accessibility and community pathway systems for herbal medicine use during pregnancy and labour among the pregnant women. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12905-023-02387-z. BioMed Central 2023-05-04 /pmc/articles/PMC10158248/ /pubmed/37143030 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02387-z Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Makombe, Dziwenji Thombozi, Enalla Chilemba, Winnie Mboma, Alexander Banda, Kondwani Joseph Mwakilama, Elias Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title | Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title_full | Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title_fullStr | Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title_full_unstemmed | Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title_short | Herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in Lilongwe rural, Malawi – a qualitative study |
title_sort | herbal medicine use during pregnancy and childbirth: perceptions of women living in lilongwe rural, malawi – a qualitative study |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10158248/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37143030 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02387-z |
work_keys_str_mv | AT makombedziwenji herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy AT thombozienalla herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy AT chilembawinnie herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy AT mbomaalexander herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy AT bandakondwanijoseph herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy AT mwakilamaelias herbalmedicineuseduringpregnancyandchildbirthperceptionsofwomenlivinginlilongweruralmalawiaqualitativestudy |