Assessment of knowledge, attitude, practice and associated factors towards traditional medicine among health professionals in Dire Dawa, East Ethiopia:

A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization defines traditional medicine (TM) as “health practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs applied to diagnose, prevent, and treat disease.” Evidence indicates 80% of the world’s population, including Africa, continue to utilize TM. Unfortunately, studies on TM practices among health professionals in Ethiopia are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and associated factors towards traditional medicine among healthcare professionals in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among systematically selected 231 healthcare professionals in April 2018. Data entry and analysis were performed using Epi Data and SPSS version 20, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify these factors. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine statistical significance.

Results: In this study, 219 health professionals from nine public health facilities (two hospitals and seven health centers) with an age range of 20–52 years were participated. A total of 110 (50.2%) of the health professionals had ever used TM. While 145 (66.2%) had a positive attitude towards TM, and 71.7% had a positive perception on education toward TM. Those who with a positive attitude towards TM were 2.53 times more likely to practice TM than those with a negative attitude (p = 0.002).

Conclusion: A significant proportion of healthcare professionals know traditional medicine (TM) and have a positive view of its practice. However, there is a gap regarding the source of knowledge acquisition, with the majority from their families. Therefore, it is essential to integrate TM into Ethiopia’s formal education and healthcare system.