Elsevier

Complementary Therapies in Medicine

Volume 17, Issues 5–6, October–December 2009, Pages 292-299
Complementary Therapies in Medicine

Use of traditional and complementary medicine in Malaysia: a baseline study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2009.04.002Get rights and content

Summary

Background

The increasing popularity and use of traditional and complementary medicine (TCAM) in both developed and developing countries, including Malaysia, have raised significant public health policy issues. However, currently, there is a paucity of baseline data on such usage by the Malaysian community.

Objective

This study was conducted to identify and describe the prevalence and frequency of various TCAM modalities that are being used by the Malaysian population by age, gender, marital and working status, educational level and ethnic group for health issues and maintenance.

Design

A nationwide interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in August 2004. An open-ended questionnaire pertaining to TCAM modalities was used to increase the probability of capturing maximum data. This survey implemented a multistage design, stratified by state and urban/rural random sampling, proportionate to the size of the state population and was representative of the Malaysian population. Post-survey classification of modalities was done accordingly. Complex data analysis was carried out using SPSS 13.0.

Results

Various TCAM modalities that were used by the Malaysian population were identified and categorised. Biological-based therapies, which included herbal therapy, were most commonly used for health problems (88.9%) and for health maintenance (87.3%). Under this category, herb-based application/herb-based beauty product/herb-based hygiene product group was most commonly used for health issues (23.6%) while pure herbs were the ones most commonly used for health maintenance (29.6%). There was no significant difference across all groups in the usage of biological-based therapies for health issues.

Conclusion

The study showed that there is a high prevalence of TCAM use by the Malaysian population, particularly in the use of herb-based therapies for both health issues and health maintenance. Thus, a strict guideline for herbal commercialisation as well as public education is important.

Introduction

Traditional medicine has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as: “a sum total of the knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.”1

WHO has also reported that about two-thirds and 50–80% of the population of developed and developing countries, used traditional and complementary medicine (TCAM), respectively. WHO has also recognised the important role of TCAM in the prevention and promotion of health for a large proportion of the population, especially in developing countries, and advocates tapping its usefulness.1

Bhakaji and Paneerazakathu reported in the Regional Overview: South East Asia Region, “apart from Bangladesh and Indonesia, no other countries have undertaken surveys on the utilization and practices of TCAM despite being practised in all South East Asia Region, for many centuries, indeed millennia.”2

The Malaysia's National Health and Morbidity Survey II, which was conducted in 1996, had reported that 2.3% of the population visited TCAM practitioners and 3.8% visited both modern and TCAM practitioners. However, this finding was very much lower than the WHO estimate. This could be because the questionnaire formulated for the study was not proposed to capture the real estimate of TCAM usage by the Malaysian population.

Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence and types of TCAM modalities used by the Malaysian population.

Section snippets

Objective

The research was conducted to describe the prevalence and frequency of various TCAM modalities that are being used by the Malaysian population stratified by age, gender, marital and working status, educational level and ethnic group for health issues and health maintenance.

Methodology

This survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, used interviewer-administered questionnaires. This survey was conducted mainly in Malay language and supplemented by English/Tamil/Chinese translation whenever necessary.

For this survey, one or more of the following definitions of TCAM were applied:

  • The medical beliefs and practices for health care and treatment practised by all races. It might be passed down from generation to generation. It included homeopathy, cupping (bekam),

Results

There were 6947 respondents for this survey. The analysis showed that this sample was representative of the Malaysian population (Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). The response rate was 81% of those residing in non-institutional living quarters. The prevalence of ever-used TCAM in their lifetime was 69.4% (67.6–71.2%) and in the last 12-month period was 55.6% (53.8–57.4%).3

The various TCAM modalities used by the Malaysian community are recorded in Table 1. The result showed that there was a vast

Discussion and conclusion

This study provided the baseline information for usage of various traditional and complementary therapies in Malaysia at the nationwide level. In summary, the prevalence of TCAM usage is within WHO estimation (50–80%) and is lower than that in the study conducted in Singapore (76%)5 and Japan (76%).6 This result might also reflect the overall prevalence of TCAM usage in Southeast Asia.

The vast range of modalities was a manifestation of ethnic and cultural diversity of the Malaysian population.7

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Director of The Institute for Medical Research, all state health directors and all the field data collection teams who gave their full commitment during the survey process. This project was funded by Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

Glossary

Living quarters
A living unit, structurally separate (surrounded by walls, fences, etc., and covered by a roof), independent (has direct access through a public staircase, communal passages or landing) and meant for living.
Mind body medicine (Ref: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/)
Mind body medicine focusses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body and behaviour and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual and behavioural factors can directly affect health.

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