open access: Why Urban Citizens in Developing Countries Use Traditional Medicines: The Case of Suriname

Blogger's Note: interesting/worth reading - references Europe, U.S...

open access

".....The outcome of our study that illness and (the transfer of) traditional knowledge are the reasons why urban citizens in Suriname use TMs (traditional medicines), rather than poverty or a limited access to modern health care, might be more universal than previously thought. The continued use of medicinal plants in urban areas, where biomedical health care is available to most citizens, has not only been observed in cities in developing countries [14, 16–18], but also among international migrant communities in USA and Europe [8, 9, 11, 46, 51]. The general idea that traditional knowledge will disappear when people enter the market society [32] is challenged by the popularity of self-medication with medicinal plant use in large urban areas [51]. Research on the potential risks and benefits of traditional medicines should therefore be put prominently on the global public health agenda....."