Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices on Homologation of Improved Traditional Medicines among Practitioners in Mfoundi Division of Cameroon

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The use of Traditional Medicine (TM), has become popular in the world. Despite the benefits, limited knowledge is available especially in the domains of regulation, legislation generally, and specifically homologation. The safety and efficacy of TM have become an important concern for the public health authorities. This study evaluates the knowledge and rates the attitudes and practices regarding homologation of Improved Traditional Medicine (ITM) in Cameroon, specifically in the Mfoundi division.

Our study was carried out with a population of 70 traditional medical practitioners, using a self-administered questionnaire. Interviews were carried out individually with each traditional medical practitioner. At the end, we realized that 61% of the study population expressed knowledge on categories of ITM. According to the TM practitioners with knowledge on the categories of ITM which exist 70% of ITM produced belong to category 2 and 23% belong to category 1. 93% of the study population cited the Ministry of Public Health as the main body in charge of ITM homologation. 51% of the study population declared not knowing the contents of a homologation file, while the remaining 49% had a good level of knowledge on the contents of a homologation file. Only 5% of the population expressed having deposited a request for homologation. In conclusion, we realized that there is a potential in the field of traditional medicine in Cameroon.