Costs and economic impact of traditional herbal medicine utilization for non-communicable diseases

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) constitute a major public health problem globally. Many patients rely on traditional herbal medicines (THM) alone or in combination with conventional drugs for the treatment of NCD. However, little is known on how much is spent on herbal medicines. There is scant research on the cost implications of THM use to health care utilization. Methodology: The Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study is a population-based cohort study involving 150,000 adults from 17 low-, middle- and high-income countries including South Africa. The South African arm involves a population-based cohort study which recruited 2000 adults in both urban and rural communities to investigate the impact of social and environmental transition on the health among people using THM for NCDs. The PURE-THM study will illustrate the importance of gathering information on use of herbal remedies, costs and spending patterns in South Africa for NCD. The following will be discussed: resource-use and expenditures; annual direct and indirect costs for households and direct costs for health and THM based on SES, gender and geographical regionalism; and the methods toward incorporating cost estimations and economic evaluation. Results: This study describes the design, methodology and justification of incorporating cost estimations of THM for NCD. Conclusion: This cost and utilization pattern data collection addresses important healthcare policy decisions towards valuing the underlying economic depiction of THM usage in this population and better understanding of reducing the burden of healthcare cost for NCD.