IDENTIFYING PROMOTERS AND REASONS FOR MEDICINAL HERB USAGE DURING PREGNANCY IN MASERU, LESOTHO

Abstract

Lesotho has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in Southern Africa. Notwithstanding the efforts to reduce maternal deaths in Lesotho, unsafe use of medicinal herbs during pregnancy remains a threat to achieving that goal. This study assessed the reasons and promoters of medicinal herb usage during pregnancy in Maseru, Lesotho, with the aim of establishing a baseline for intervention. This was a semi-structured questionnaire-based cross-sectional quantitative study on 72 purposively sampled pregnant women who attended antenatal care at one referral district hospital in Maseru District between March and April 2014. Overall, 34 (47.2%, n=72) women conceded use of herbs during pregnancy. The majority (52.9%) of the participants had no specific reasons for using the herbs except as a tradition. Besides unspecified reasons, three (8.8%, n=34) women cited prevention of placenta praevia, while leucorrhoea of pregnancy, prevention of abortion and promoting foetal growth were each cited by two women (5.9%) as the main reasons for using herbs. By proportion of pregnant women, grandmothers (52.9%), traditional healers (26.5%), mothers-in-law (14.7%) and traditional birth attendants (5.9%) were cited as the major promoters and providers of traditional herbs. Use of herbs was not significantly associated with age (p=0.233), marital status (p=0.113), literacy level (p= 0.719), previous loss of pregnancy (p=0.490), parity (p=0.147) and gravida (p=0.234). Grandmothers, traditional healers, mothers-in-law and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) are the main promoters of herb use during pregnancy. There is need to incorporate information on potential dangers of using medicinal herbs during pregnancy into the training curriculum for TBAs and midwives. Further qualitative research is necessary to unveil the precise cultural reasons for using herbs.