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.