Utilisation of Traditional Medication for the Treatment of Vaginal Infection among Women of Reproductive Age in Makurdi Metropolis of Benue State, Nigeria

A vaginal infection VI is a common problem affecting many women of reproductive age in developed and developing countries. This infection can cause vaginal discharge, discomfort, and also vaginal smell, difficulties to conceive, discrimination among others. However, little studies have been done on the utilisation of traditional medication for the treatment of vaginal infection, hence the necessity for this study. The study adopted a qualitative and a quantitative method with the use of a structured questionnaire. The accidental sampling technique was used with a visit to 6 traditional treatment centres, in Makurdi metropolis. Using this method, twenty five women of reproductive age participated in semi structured interview face to face or by telephone, and 354 women that patronised the traditional medication answered the structured questionnaire about their experience of recurrent vagina infection. The SPSS was used to analyse the quantitative data and presented in a simple percentage. The inferential statistics the Pearson correlation moment was used. It was found among others that different categories of women with different socioeconomic status utilised traditional medication in the treatment of vaginal infection in the area. The only variation was that the educated, the middle and the high income women utilised traditional therapy after a recorded failure of orthodox therapy, while uneducated and low income women utilised traditional medicine as a first line of call. The study also revealed that the failure of the conventional health facilities to treat the infection, high cost and the effectiveness of traditional medication influenced women decision to utilised traditional medication. It was also found that the disease has both physical and social effect on women. Base on this, it was recommended among others that the WHO, stakeholders in the health sector should provide basics health facilities for the prevention and treatment of this infection, sensitizing women on the proper hygienic health practices, incorporation of traditional medication into conventional medicine. Iorkosu, Tyover Samuel | Emmanuel, Veren Orjime | Benjamin, Gowon Ahule | Dooior Daniel Tsembe | Aluka, Terpase Moses | Francis Ajai "Utilisation of Traditional Medication for the Treatment of Vaginal Infection among Women of Reproductive Age in Makurdi Metropolis of Benue State, Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-6 , October 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33251.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/sociology/33251/utilisation-of-traditional-medication-for-the-treatment-of-vaginal-infection-among-women-of-reproductive-age-in-makurdi-metropolis-of-benue-state-nigeria/iorkosu-tyover-samuel