Knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners towards complementary and alternative medicine in Doha, Qatar

A cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners [GPs] towards complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] was conducted in Doha, Qatar. Out of 119 respondents, 39.1% reported poor knowledge about CAM. Self-reported knowledge was highest for counselling and psychotherapy [69.0%], diet and supplements [68.1%], acupuncture [45.2%], herbal medicine [47.3%] and massage [42.5%]. While 83.8% described their attitude to CAM as welcoming and 97.5% were interested to learn more about it, fewer [30.1%] had practised it before, referred patients [24.8%] or asked patients' about their use of CAM [34.8%]. Their own lack of knowledge and training in CAM was seen as a barrier to its use by 60.0% of the GPs

Guidelines on minimum requirements for the registration of herbal medicinal products in the EMR

Use of herbal medicines has increased steadily in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In some countries, herbal medicines are produced locally and a large population depends on them for primary health care. In other countries, the majority of herbal products are imported. A major problem in the evaluation of imported herbal products is that they often contain more than 10 plants, and it is very difficult to conduct testing and quality control. Another problem is that classification categories for herbal products vary from country to country. Governments need to establish national regulations on the control of imported herbal medicines through sharing experiences and harmonizing standards on safety and quality control across national boundaries. These guidelines were developed through a consultation process with national drug authorities in the Region and will assist countries to establish appropriate regulations

Patterns of belief and use of traditional remedies by diabetic patients in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

A sample of 1039 diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia was interviewed using a structured questionnaire about belief in traditional herbal remedies. The relationship of belief scores to sociodemographic and diabetes-related variables was assessed using chi-square tests. The study showed that 15.6% of the sample believed that traditional medicines were safe and effective and 25.8% that they might be beneficial. One-third of patients were using traditional remedies. A statistically significant relationship was shown between belief in traditional medicines and variables such as female sex, positive family history of diabetes, duration of diabetes and compliance with diet. However, there was no relationship with other compliance variables or with glucose and weight control. Efforts should be made to enhance diabetic education among patients on the basis of evidence-based practice