Popularity and Customer Preferences for Herbal Medicines in Nigeria: A Questionnaire Based Survey

This study was designed to ascertain the availability, affordability, and consumption of medicinal plants in Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The age group of individuals interviewed was between 10 - 59 years. Results show that, herbal medicine awareness and usage was 97 % and 82 % respectively. Most respondents (97 %) admitted to having knowledge of medicinal herbs and their sources of information included family members (58 %), friends (21 %), Herbalist (9 %), and Pharmacy (3 %). Majority (54 %) of the participants took these medicinal herbs in liquid form. On sources of procurement, 17 percent of participants prepared these medicinal plants themselves, 19 % from pharmacies and 17 % from herbalists. Twenty three percent engaged in self-medication, while 21 % obtained their preparations from herbalists. Sixty-five percent said the products are safe and effective, while sixty-nine percent had no side effects while using the products. On affordability, 15 - 52 % admitted that herbal medicines are very affordable, while 20 % agreed that they are expensive. Over half of respondents' preferred locally manufactured herbal medicines. Analysis of sources of foreign medicinal goods shows that most (75 %) were from USA. About 78 % of the participants do not take these medicinal herbs with conventional drugs, alcohol (72 %) or cigarette (80 %). Overall, 69 % of our respondents have benefitted from the consumption of medicinal remedies. It is concluded that, the awareness, perception and access to medicinal herbs in Nigeria is increasing which is likely due to dearth of public health facilities. This calls for health administrators to design appropriate programs to implement and ensure the effective monitoring of circulating herbal products.