- Title
- Usage of traditional medicines and other indigenous practices by childbearing women during pregnancy in Makoni District, Zimbabwe
- Creator
- Chituku, Sibongile
- Subject
- Traditional medicine -- Zimbabwe
- Subject
- Medicinal plants
- Date
- 2020-09
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20142
- Identifier
- vital:45347
- Description
- Use of traditional medicinal plants (TMPs) during pregnancy, labour and delivery is common globally although evidence on their therapeutic effectiveness and safety is scarce. Research relating to indigenous practices and utilisation of traditional medicinal plants by childbearing women during pregnancy in Makoni District, Zimbabwe was carried out. The study included identification of culturally important indigenous knowledge (IK) practices and TMPs used by pregnant women in order to understand how such plants and practices may affect maternal, foetal, labour, and infant outcomes. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to postnatal mothers in Makoni District, aimed at obtaining information on IK practices associated with utilisation of TMPs by childbearing women during pregnancy. In addition to this, five focused group discussions were carried out between September 2016 and December 2017 with 66 traditional healers from Makoni District. Documented information included names of utilised plants, plant parts used, dosage, methods of preparation and administration, and reasons for use. Voucher specimens of the utilised plant species were collected. Brine shrimp lethality test was used to evaluate potential toxicity of the documented plant species. The collected data were analysed used Epi info version 7.1 and SPSS version 16.5. Quantitative data revealed that 168 (42.0percent) of pregnant women in Makoni District use TMPs and 95 (23.8percent) used traditional practices (including elephant dung) for maternal and childcare. Among the women who used TMPs were those who experienced precipitated and prolonged labour. Correlation was found between demographic factors and utilisation of TMPs. For example, being a Christian was significantly associated with using TMPs with relative risk (RR) value of 8.9. Postnatal mothers who used TMPs during their pregnancy were 82.0percent less likely to have their membranes ruptured artificially, RR = 0.2 and more likely to experience late decelerations during active phase (RR = 2.8) than those who did not use TMPs. The differences between those who used TMPs and those who did not during pregnancy and labour, showed no significant differences in infant outcomes. The ethnobotanical survey revealed that a total of 47 plant species from 27 families and 13 non-plant products were used as herbal, complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) by pregnant women. More than half of all the documented plant species (59.8percent), belonged to the Fabaceae (19.1), Asteraceae, (8.5percent), Convolvulaceae (6.4percent), Asparagaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae, Vitaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae (4.3percent each) families. The most used plants were shrubs (40.4percent), trees (27.7percent), climbers (17.0percent), herbs (12.8percent) and a grasses (2.1percent). The most used plant parts were roots (61.7percent), leaves (25.5percent), fruits (12.8percent) and bark (10.6percent). A total of 26 medical conditions were treated with the majority of medicinal plants used to dilate or widen the birth canal (55.3percent) and to augment labour or speed up the delivery process (46.8percent). Interviews with traditional healers revealed that 14.9percent of the documented herbal medicines were used to guard against witchcraft and to prevent the infants’ illnesses. Other major uses of herbal medicines during pregnancy included their use to lower blood pressure or hypertension during pregnancy (12.8percent), to prevent caesarean section (10.6percent) and to loosen or relax muscles during pregnancy (8.5percent). Widely used non-plant products included soil of a burrowing mole (relative frequency citation (RFC) value of 0.61), elephant dung (RFC = 0.59), wasp nest (RFC = 0.32) and soap (RFC = 25). The majority of these non-plant products (22.8percent) were used to dilate birth canal (7.6percent) and augment labour (15.2percent). None of the twenty-five species with (RFC) > 0.05 evaluated for potential toxicity were categorised as toxic, but Albizia amara, Datura stramonium and Ricinus communis were categorised as having medium toxicity levels, nine species as having low toxicity levels while 13 species were categorised as non-toxic. This study provides valuable insights into the use of medicinal plants used by women during pregnancy, labour, delivery and post-delivery in Makoni District, Zimbabwe. Medicinal plants play an integral role in the provision of basic health care in Zimbabwe. However, the brine shrimp lethality test results categorised some of the prescribed species such as Albizia amara, Datura stramonium and Ricinus communis as having medium levels of toxicity and this is a cause of concern regarding utilization of TMPs during pregnancy. Therefore, TMPs used during pregnancy should be subjected to detailed phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological experiments aimed at identifying some of the potential toxic compounds and side effects associated with intake of TMPs and associated herbal products.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD(Nursing)) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2020
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (278 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Chituku _201501220_Doctor of Nursing.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |