Herbal medicine usage before and during pregnancy – a study in Northern Ghana

Introduction Herbal medicines are serving the health needs of several persons across the world especially those in developing countries The hormonal and structural changes in pregnancy cause women to experience unpleasant signs and symptoms Some pregnant women resort to herbal medicines to manage their conditions or make the delivery process uneventful oblivious of the effects some of these chemicals have on their developing foetuses This study therefore assessed the use of herbal medicines among pregnant women in Tamale a city in Northern Ghana Method Using self administered semi structured questionnaires and questionnaire guided interviews data was collected from self confessed pregnant women in randomly selected suburbs of the Tamale metropolis The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel the Statistical Package for Social Science SPSS version and Graph Pad Prism Version GraphPad Software Inc San Diego CA to determine percentages means and frequencies and associations between various variables Statistical significance was assumed at p lt using confidence interval of Results The level of patronage of HM was before and during pregnancy with most of the herbal preparations used before and during pregnancy being pre packaged The different raw plants materials used belong to plant families with belonging to the Fabaceae The leaves were the most common part of the raw plant materials used Being the Islamic faith believer p living in an extended family setting p and being of the lower socio economic status p were significantly associated with use of HM before pregnancy however only employment status was significantly associated with the use of HM during pregnancy p with the unemployed patronizing the HM most Conclusion There is high patronage of HM especially pre packaged herbal preparations by women in the Tamale metropolis before and during pregnancy Health care providers should educate pregnant women about the possible effect herbal medicines could have on their babies Manufacturers of herbal products should clearly indicate pregnancy being a contraindication and vendors should also be careful in selling these products to pregnant women