FACTORS DETERMINING RURAL HOUSEHOLDS’ PREFERENCE FOR HERBAL MEDICINAL TREATMENT IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Herbal medicines remain integral part of indigenous health care system in Ondo State, Nigeria. Most conventional health medicines are directly or indirectly derived from plants or herbs. Despite its significant role in modern medicine, indigenous herbal practices have been on the low light for some time due to perceived antagonistic relationship that exists between practitioners of herbal medicine and their counterparts in the conventional system. In the present review, this described the factors determining preference of rural households for herbal medicinal treatment in Ondo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed. Five (5) out of the eighteen LGAs in Ondo Sate were randomly selected for this study. The LGAs are Akure South, Ilaje, Okitipupa, Ondo west and Owo. This was followed by random selection of two communities from each LGA; three wards were selected from each sampled community from where five heads of household were interviewed. In all, the study focused on 10 communities and 150 respondents The analytical techniques used for this study involved qualitative and quantitative methods. Descriptive Statistics and Inferential Statistics- Pearson Product moment Coefficient (PPMC) analysis and Chi-square were used for the hypotheses. The result of the study revealed that among others, majority (45.6%) of the respondents were between the ages of 41-60 years, while 36.23% were between 21 and 40 years. Majority of the respondents were married men (69.6%) and 36% of the respondents had tertiary education. The result further revealed that 58.0% of the respondents had worked for up to ten years while about 7% had working experience of above 31 years. Also, 62% of the respondents had 1-5 children each in their households. The study also revealed that most respondents spent above ₦50,000 monthly on herbal medicine. In the study, it was also revealed that Christians used herbal medicine most, and that majority (97.8%) indicated that they had used herbal medicine before. Chi-square analysis showed that there was significant