Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by hyperglycemia due to an absolute or relative deficit in insulin production or action. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes mellitus is associated with end organ damage, dysfunction, and failure, including the retina, kidney, nervous system, heart, and blood vessels. In clinical practice two major types of diabetes cases, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), are often seen along with a small percentage of other forms of the disease. Treatment of diabetes mellitus can be divided into non-pharmacological and pharmacological depending upon the type of diabetes and the severity of the disease. Non-pharmacological management of diabetes includes nutritional interventions, physical activity, life style changes like cutting down on alcohol in-take and cigarette smoking (1). Pharmacological management can be divided into traditional and conventional management

Methodology: A cross sectional study design was conducted at Sekou-Touré regional referral hospital and randomly selected diabetic patients were selected for questionnaire. The obtained results were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20 program and the obtained qualitative data was be summarized categorically.

Findings: Among the 130 interviewed participants, 70(53.8%) participants used herbal medication. It was also found that 40% (52) of the participants used herbal medication because of the advice from friends/family. The prevalence of people using traditional medicines in treatment of diabetes mellitus among diabetic patients attending medical outpatient clinic at Sekou Touré Regional Referral Hospital was found to be 53.8%.

Conclusion and recommendations the result showed that (53.8%) among diabetic patients interviewed used herbal treatment either alone or concurrently with conventional healthcare services in the management of DM. The major reason for using herbal medication was advice from friends and family members (74.3%) and (55.7%) patients mainly depend on families and friends as a source of information about herbal medicines. Provision of more education and emphasis regarding treatment proper management of DM among diabetic patients is recommend so as to improve their quality of life. Also, further studies should be done on the safety of these herbal medicine used.