article · Healthcare
In conflict-affected areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, malaria treatment is severely compromised by frequent stockouts of quality-assured artemisinin-based combination therapies and the spread of counterfeit medicines. This qualitative investigation examined the acceptability of Artemisia annua herbal tea among thirty community users, healthcare providers, and local opinion leaders in the Kalima Health Zone. Community members showed strong willingness to use the herbal tea, citing its accessibility, perceived rapid recovery, and the desire to bypass untrustworthy commercial antimalarials. Conversely, biomedical practitioners raised serious concerns regarding unpredictable dosing and the risks of sub-therapeutic treatment from uncalibrated plant material. While the research explicitly does not confirm the clinical safety, efficacy, or dosing adequacy of the herbal tea, it reveals a cross-sector demand for the industrial transformation of raw plant biomass into standardised, calibrated tablets.
Malaria remains a major public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, worsened by fractured supply chains and counterfeit drugs. Understanding why communities turn to unstandardised herbal preparations highlights critical failures in conventional pharmaceutical distribution. It also demonstrates the urgent need for safe, regulated, and dependable treatment options that local populations and healthcare providers can trust.
The findings indicate a clear market pull for pharmaceutical manufacturers to undertake industrial galenic transformation, processing raw Artemisia annua into calibrated, quality-controlled tablets. Target users include both community members and local health practitioners seeking reliable alternatives to failing supply chains. However, this research is early-stage social perception work and does not establish clinical safety or efficacy, meaning substantial product development and clinical validation remain necessary before commercial deployment.
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Background: Malaria is a significant public health challenge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In conflict-affected areas, access to quality-assured ACTs is restricted by chronic stockouts and circulation of substandard and falsified antimalarials. This study investigates perceptions and social acceptability of Artemisia annua herbal tea in the Kalima Health Zone. Methods: Distinct from the prior provider-arm cross-sectional survey of the same program in the Kalima Health Zone which sampled only biomedical healthcare workers (n = 337), this exploratory qualitative study adopted a socio-anthropological design across three stakeholder strata (community users, biomedical providers, opinion leaders). Maximum-variation purposive sampling recruited 30 informants across five health areas (11 end-users, 11 providers, 8 opinion leaders). Sample-size adequacy was assessed against Malterud’s information power framework; data collection continued until operational thematic saturation. Hybrid inductive–deductive thematic content analysis followed COREQ reporting. Results: End-users demonstrated high willingness, driven by accessibility, perceived three-day recovery, and avoidance of unreliable ACTs. Biomedical providers voiced intense posological anxieties over uncalibrated raw biomass and sub-therapeutic dosing. Behavioral patterns were shaped by socio-religious norms and digitally mediated religious discourse. A unanimous demand for industrial galenic transformation of raw biomass into calibrated tablets emerged across all groups. Conclusions: This study does not validate the clinical efficacy, safety, posological adequacy, or resistance-attenuation potential of Artemisia annua herbal tea. It documents a transversal household-level consensus, across the three strata and five health areas, that Artemisia annua herbal tea adoption responds to documented double ACT supply chain failure. A unanimous demand for industrial galenic transformation emerged across all stakeholder groups.
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DOI: 10.3390/healthcare14172740
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