Sensitivity of candida albicans to the medicines-traditional practitioners use for treating vaginal candidiasis with in Kampala Capital City Authority in Uganda.

Abstract

Introduction This study was done to determine the sensitivity of Candida albicans to the medicines used by traditional and complementary medicine practitioners within Kampala Capital city. It was intended to identify traditional medicines that are highly active against Candida albicans. The study was important because with 60% of Ugandans already using traditional medicines without evidence of their therapeutic effectiveness and with the current challenges in the health care services in Uganda, identification of effective traditional medicines would provide a cheap and more accessible treatment option for most Ugandans. General objective To determine the sensitivity of Candida albicans to the medicines used by traditional and complementary medicine practitioners in treating vaginal candidiasis within the areas of Kampala capital city Authority so as to identify and promote the active ones and reduce/discourage the use of non- active medicines in treating Vaginal Candidiasis. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted, to determine sensitivity of Candida albicans to the traditional medicines. Questionnaires were used to collect data and samples of the medicines were collected and tested for their sensitivity to Candida albicans. Both bivariate and univariate analysis were used to analyse the data in order to address the research questions. Results Most of the traditional medicines being used, that is to say, 97.93 percent of the traditional medicines were found not to have any activity against Candida albicansand only 2.07 percent showed some low level of activity. 53.7 percent of the practitioners stopped at primary level of education and only 5% were educated beyond secondary and only 11.5 percent of the practitioners knew the causative agent of vaginal Candidiasis while 32.4 percent knew at least one source of infection with candida 72.3% of the practitioners were female and the males constituted 27.7% of the total number of practitioners. Conclusion There is still a very high level of secrecy that the traditional medicine practitioners work to protect by not revealing much about their medicines. Most of the medicines being used by the traditional medicine practitioners actually do to have activity against Candida albicans, only 2.07 percent of the medicines exhibited low activity against Candida albicans. The low educational level of most practitioners may explain why most practitioners had limited knowledge on Vaginal Candidiasis.This poses greater risks in managing Vaginal Candidiasis and professionalization of traditional medicines practices as a whole. Recommendations There is need to scientifically validate traditional medicines that are being used to manage Vaginal Candidiasis and other diseases. There is need to set a minimum level of formal education and training in traditional medicines before allowing one to practice traditional medicines in order to protect the public. Traditional medicine practitioners should be sensitized on the importance of collaboration and research.