ASSOCIATION BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND UTILIZATION OF NATURAL REMEDIES TO CURE INFECTIOUS DISEASES AMONG NAROK RESIDENTS, NAROK COUNTY, KENYA
Abstract
Natural remedies have been used globally as an intervention in the management,
healing and prevention of disease. Some have been used as a stand-alone medicine or
alongside western medicines depending on the nature of the disease. In some parts of
Africa and Kenya specifically, there are communities that have also been using the
natural remedies including the Maasai communities in Narok county. Narok town has
grown to be a cosmopolitan community, and hence it is not clear whether natural
remedies are still being utilized in these regions. Therefore, this study was aimed to
explore the association between knowledge, attitude, and utilization of natural remedies
to cure infectious diseases among Narok county residents.
This study employed a cross-sectional study design, and data was collected from a
sample of three hundred and eighty-one people who were residents of Narok town using a
self-administered closed-ended questionnaire. The data was analysed using negative
binomial regression models to explore the associations in STATA version 13.1. The
Incidence rate ratios (IRR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported in the
tables.
The results of this study show the majority of the respondents knew most of the
natural remedies including garlic (81.9%), ginger (85.1%), honey (96.6%), rosemary
(58.6%), aloe (89.8%) and blackjack (63.1%), but in the utilization there was slightly
reduction in proportions of those who were utilizing. The most commonly utilized natural
remedies were honey, aloe, ginger, garlic and wheatgrass juice. After adjusting for all the
potential confounders, those who had moderate knowledge (IRR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.26 –
1.71) and high knowledge (IRR = 2.16; 95% CI: 1.83 – 2.55) were more likely to utilize
natural remedies than those with low knowledge. On the relationship between attitude
and utilization of natural remedies, those who indicated that they will keep using the
remedies in the future (IRR = 1.20; 95% CI: 0.98 – 1.48, p < 0.10) and believed that the
natural remedies can be used to cure (IRR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.14 – 1.57) and prevent (IRR
= 1.22; 95% CI: 1.04 – 1.44) infectious diseases were at a higher rate of utilization than
the reference groups before adjusting for the potential confounders, but after adjustment,
the differences attenuated.
In conclusion, this study found a relationship between knowledge and utilization
of natural remedies to cure infectious diseases. However, despite the respondents having
knowledge about several natural remedies under investigation, their utilization was
slightly reduced when compared with the knowledge percentage. But at least most
respondents had utilized more than five natural remedies that were under research. As
people are utilizing the natural remedies, health education and health promotion on the
safe ways of preparation, storage and utilization is therefore very necessary in order to
avoid negative health and side effect that might be associated with some natural
remedies. Proper documentation of these alternative medicine should also be encouraged.