Demographic characteristics of participants

Details of the informants were ascertained and recorded via face-to-face interviews. The majority of informants were healers who practice herbal medicine; a few (five) were farmers or sellers of local products. Demographic details of the informants are provided in Table 1. The majority of informants interviewed were above 40 years of age (~62 %), and males (80 %) greatly outnumbered females (20 %). Although all traditional healers claimed to be experts in traditional medicine [14, 20], only 5 % of them were licensed to dispense herbal medicine. Just over 30 % of informants lacked even primary school education, which may be related to the fact that traditional healing not only uses plants, but also involves rituals and spiritual aspects as part of the therapy [21].

Demographic details of the interviewed informants