Dataset Information

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of the integration of biomedical and herbal medicine units in Ghana using the WHO Health Systems Framework: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The use of herbal medicines in developing countries has been increasing over the years. In Ghana, since 2011, the government has been piloting the integration of herbal medicine in 17 public hospitals. However, the strengths and the weaknesses of the integration have not been fully explored. The current study sought to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the integration using the WHO health systems framework.

Methods

This study used qualitative, exploratory study design involving interviews of 25 key informants. The respondents had experience in conducting herbal medicine research. Two key informants were medical herbalists practising in hospitals piloting the integration in Ghana. We used Framework analysis to identify the perspectives of key informants in regards to the integration. RESULTS: Key informants mostly support the integration although some noted that the government needs to support scale-up in other public hospitals. Among the strengths cited were the employment of medical herbalists, utilization of traditional knowledge, research opportunities, and efficient service delivery by restricting the prescription and use of fake herbal medicine. The weaknesses were the lack of government policies on implementing the integration, financial challenges because the National Health Insurance Scheme does not cover herbal medicine, poor advocacy and research opportunities, and lack of training of conventional health practitioners in herbal medicine.

Conclusions

Researchers view the integration of the two healthcare systems-biomedicine, and herbal medicine- positively but it has challenges that need to be addressed. The integration could offer more opportunities for researching into herbal medicine. More training for conventional health professionals in herbal medicine could increase the chances of better coordination between the two units. Additionally, strong advocacy and publicity is needed to educate more people on the integration and the utilization of the services.

SUBMITTER: Appiah B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6196414 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of the integration of biomedical and herbal medicine units in Ghana using the WHO Health Systems Framework: a qualitative study.

Appiah Bernard B Amponsah Isaac Kingsley IK Poudyal Anubhuti A Mensah Merlin Lincoln Kwao MLK

BMC complementary and alternative medicine 20181022 1

<h4>Background</h4>The use of herbal medicines in developing countries has been increasing over the years. In Ghana, since 2011, the government has been piloting the integration of herbal medicine in 17 public hospitals. However, the strengths and the weaknesses of the integration have not been fully explored. The current study sought to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the integration using the WHO health systems framework.<h4>Methods</h4>This study used qualitative, exploratory study de ...[more]

PMID: 30348173

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Project description:BackgroundAlternative splicing contributes significantly to the complexity of the human transcriptome and proteome. Computational prediction of alternative splice isoforms are usually based on EST sequences that also allow to approximate the expression pattern of the related transcripts. However, the limited number of tissues represented in the EST data as well as the different cDNA construction protocols may influence the predictive capacity of ESTs to unravel tissue-specifically expressed transcripts.MethodsWe predict tissue and tumor specific splice isoforms based on the genomic mapping (SpliceNest) of the EST consensus sequences and library annotation provided in the GeneNest database. We further ascertain the potentially rare tissue specific transcripts as the ones represented only by ESTs derived from normalized libraries. A subset of the predicted tissue and tumor specific isoforms are then validated via RT-PCR experiments over a spectrum of 40 tissue types.ResultsOur strategy revealed 427 genes with at least one tissue specific transcript as well as 1120 genes showing tumor specific isoforms. While our experimental evaluation of computationally predicted tissue-specific isoforms revealed a high success rate in confirming the expression of these isoforms in the respective tissue, the strategy frequently failed to detect the expected restricted expression pattern. The analysis of putative lowly expressed transcripts using normalized cDNA libraries suggests that our ability to detect tissue-specific isoforms strongly depends on the expression level of the respective transcript as well as on the sensitivity of the experimental methods. Especially splice isoforms predicted to be disease-specific tend to represent transcripts that are expressed in a set of healthy tissues rather than novel isoforms.ConclusionsWe propose to combine the computational prediction of alternative splice isoforms with experimental validation for efficient delineation of an accurate set of tissue-specific transcripts.

Dataset Information

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of the integration of biomedical and herbal medicine units in Ghana using the WHO Health Systems Framework: a qualitative study.

Background

Methods

Conclusions

Publications

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of the integration of biomedical and herbal medicine units in Ghana using the WHO Health Systems Framework: a qualitative study.

Similar Datasets

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