Predictors of Unmet Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Need Among Persons of Sub-Saharan African Origin
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Predictors of Unmet Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Need Among Persons of Sub‑Saharan African Origin Living in the Greater Toronto Area Prince M. Amegbor1 · Mark W. Rosenberg2
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Our study seeks to examine how chronic health status, insurance coverage and socioeconomic factors predict unmet traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) needs among immigrants from sub-Saharan African origin living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The data for the study comes from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 273 sub-Saharan African immigrants living in the GTA. ~ 21% of respondents surveyed had unmet TCAM needs in the 12-month period prior to the survey. Persons with chronic health conditions, lower socioeconomic status, and those with previous history of TCAM use before immigrating were more likely to have unmet TCAM need. The study suggests that the current TCAM healthcare environment in the GTA limits that ability of sub-Saharan immigrants to meet their healthcare needs, especially persons in most need of such treatments—persons with chronic health conditions and those of lower socioeconomic background. Keywords Canada · Immigrants · Unmet healthcare needs · Traditional · complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) · Sub-saharan africans
Introduction There is a growing global appeal for traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) among patients and the general population. A plethora of literature and studies have captured the growth of public interest in TCAM [1–3]. The growing interest in TCAM is mainly because of patterns of TCAM care utilisation among the population in both developed and developing countries. Evidence in existing studies suggests that half of the population in developed countries use TCAM, while the proportion for the population in developing countries is even greater [4]. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the appeal of TCAM among the general population is often attributed to what Anyinam [5] terms as the four “As”—accessibility, availability, affordability and * Prince M. Amegbor [email protected] 1
BERTHA, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Department of Geography and Planning, Queen’s University, Mackintosh‑Corry Hall, Room E208, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
2
acceptability. TCAM, mainly, traditional or indigenous healing practices and remedies are usually based on the ethnocultural system of local communities hence its practices and beliefs are embraced by the members of the community [6]. TCAM remedies are also easily accessible and sourced from the immediate environment, making it an affordable option of care compared to biomedical care [7, 8]. There has been significant growth in the number and proportion of immigrants from developing countries living in Canada over the last three decades [9]. Recent immigration figures show a continuous increase in the number of immigrants from
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