Traditional Medicine Practice in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Claim in Jimma Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

• Main Authors: Umeta Chali B, Melaku T, Berhanu N, Mengistu B, Milkessa G, Mamo G, Alemu S, Mulugeta T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-09-01
• Series: Infection and Drug Resistance
• Subjects: traditional and complementary medicine; covid-19; novel coronavirus; sars-cov-2
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/traditional-medicine-practice-in-the-context-of-covid-19-pandemic-comm-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IDR

Belachew Umeta Chali,1 Tsegaye Melaku,2 Nimona Berhanu,3 Birhanu Mengistu,4 Gudina Milkessa,5 Girma Mamo,2 Sintayehu Alemu,1 Temesgen Mulugeta2 1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia; 2Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia; 3Department of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia; 4Department of Anesthesia, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia; 5Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Belachew Umeta Chali Po. Box: 378 Tel [phone]Email [e-mail]: To assess traditional medicine practice claims by the community for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 422 households of Jimma Zone, and the data were collected by interviewing individuals from the selected households. The medicinal plants were recorded on Microsoft excel 2010 with their parts used, dosage form, route of administration and source of plants and tabulated in the table. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and organize the data. The Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) was calculated for each traditional medicine to identify the top 10 medicinal products.Results: Around 46% of participants used traditional medicines for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The study recorded 32 herbal and non-herbal medicinal products. Garlic (RFC: 0.166), ginger (RFC: 0.133), lemon (RFC: 0.133), garden cress (RFC: 0.069) and “Damakase” (RFC: 0.031) were the frequently used herbal medicines. Seeds (47.22%) and leaves (30.56%) were the most used parts of medicinal plants. Most preparation of medicinal plants (90.63%) was administered through the oral route. The majority of medicinal plants were from home gardens.Conclusions and Recommendations: Around half of the participants practiced traditional medicines for COVID-19. Garlic, ginger, lemon, garden cress and “Damakase” were the frequently used herbal products. Seeds and leaves were regularly used parts. The oral route is the most used route of administration. The majority of medicinal plants were from home gardens. This quantity of traditional medicine practice is probably challenging to control the pandemic. However, it might open possibilities for pharmaceutical industries and researchers to look into the effectiveness and safety of claimed medicinal products. Therefore, all responsible bodies are advocated to behave accordingly.Keywords: traditional and complementary medicine, COVID-19, novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2