Use of traditional medicines and traditional practitioners by children in Indonesia: findings from a national population survey in 2014–2015

Figures & data

Table 1 Health care utilization in the past four weeks in 15,739 children (0–14 years)

Variable	N (%)	Average costs over 4 weeks in Rupiah^a, M (SD)
Visit of a public hospital, public health center, private hospital, clinic, health worker or doctor’s practice or been visited by a health worker or doctor?
Public hospital (general or speciality)	106 (0.7)	236,578 (790,584)
Public health center/auxiliary center	891 (5.7)	10,385 (29,163)
Private hospital	138 (0.9)	230,804 (279,600)
Polyclinic, private clinic, medical center	307 (2.0)	86,142 (160,252)
Private physician (general practitioner, specialist, dentist, family doctor)	609 (3.9)	101,515 (149,642)
Nurse, paramedic, midwife practitioner	1,024 (6.5)	103,494 (1,882,328)
Traditional practitioner (shaman, wiseman, kyai, Chinese herbalist, masseur, acupuncturist, etc.)	528 (3.4)	91,330 (1,312,556)
Self-treatment during the past four weeks
Consumed over-the-counter modern medicine (like bodrexin, inzana, paramex)	5,930 (61.1)	10,695 (66,205)
Consumed traditional herbs or traditional medicines as treatment	917 (6.2)	10,706 (21,894)
Used topical medicines (like eye drops, cream, medical plaster, ointment and the like)	3,013 (19.9)	10,513 (26,898)
Used vitamin/supplements	2,024 (12.4)	24,206 (35,034)
Massage/coining	2,359 (16.4)	6,548 (13,562)

Note: ^a14,105 Rupiah = 1 USD (as at February18, 2019).²²

Figure 1 Prevalence of self-treatment.

Table 2 Characteristics of the last health care provider visit (N=3,109)

Variable	N (%)	Immunization	Consultation	Medical check-up	Medications	Injection	Treatment for injury	Treatment for illness	Massage	Insurance paid some or all	Satisfactory with last visit	Somewhat satisfactory	Not or far from satisfactory
		N (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	%	%	%	%
Public hospital (general or speciality)	88 (2.8)	1 (1.1)	10 (11.4)	37 (42.0)	25 (28.4)	11 (12.5)	3 (3.4)	53 (60.2)	0	46.6	15.9	75.0	9.1
Public health center/auxiliary center	778 (25.0)	17 (2.2)	68 (8.7)	217 (27.9)	246 (31.6)	16 (2.1)	9 (1.2)	545 (70.1)	1 (0.1)	40.4	12.6	74.9	12.5
Private hospital	122 (3.9)	10 (8.2)	20 (16.4)	36 (29.5)	34 (27.9)	3 (2.5)	3 (2.5)	84 (68.9)	0	38.5	21.3	73.8	4.9
Polyclinic, private clinic, medical center	272 (8.7)	6 (2.2)	33 (12.1)	105 (38.6)	111 (40.8)	6 (2.2)	3 (1.1)	186 (68.4)	0	32.0	11.4	82.0	6.7
Private physician (general practitioner, specialist, dentist, family doctor)	556 (17.9)	7 (1.3)	60 (10.8)	173 (31.1)	186 (33.5)	10 (18.0)	1 (0.2)	366 (65.8)	0	11.2	18.3	78.2	3.5
Nurse, paramedic, midwife practitioner	910 (29.3)	57 (6.3)	52 (5.7)	203 (22.3)	589 (64.7)	22 (2.4)	14 (1.5)	624 (68.6)	3 (0.3)	1.8	17.8	79.5	2.7
Traditional practitioner (shaman, wiseman, kyai, Chinese herbalist, masseur, acupuncturist, etc.)	364 (11.7)	0	3 (0.8)	4 (1.1)	2 (0.5)	0	4 (1.1)	54 (14.8)	316 (86.8)	0.0	19.8	78.8	1.4
Other	19 (0.6)	7 (36.8)	0	4 (21.1)	1 (5.3)	0	1 (5.3)	6 (31.6)	1 (5.3)	21.1	5.3	94.7	0.0

Table 3 Associations with current traditional and complementary medicine use

Variable	Traditional medicine use in the past 4 weeks		Traditional practitioner use in the past 4 weeks
	Crude odds ratio	Adjusted odds ratio	Crude odds ratio	Adjusted odds ratio
Age in years
0–4 (35.9%)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
5–9 (33.6%)	0.97 (0.83, 1.14)	0.95 (0.84, 1.09)	0.30 (0.24, 0.37)***	0.31 (0.25, 0.38)***
10–14 (30.5%)	1.11 (0.94, 1.39)	0.98 (0.83, 1.16)	0.16 (0.12, 0.21)***	0.17 (0.12, 0.22)***
Sex
Male (51.5%)	1 (Reference)	–	1 (Reference)	–
Female (48.5%)	0.96 (0.84, 1.09)		1.11 (0.93, 1.32)
Education (mother)
High school or Higher education (51.5%)	1 (Reference)	–	1 (Reference)	–
None or elementary (44.8%)	0.69 (0.47, 1.00)		1.02 (0.61, 1.69)
Education (father)
High school or Higher education (51.3%)	1 (Reference)	–	1 (Reference)	–
None or elementary (48.7%)	1.15 (0.65, 2.03)		1.27 (0.55, 2.97)
Birth certificate
Has (82.5%)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
Does not have (17.5%)	0.75 (0.62, 0.91)**	0.74 (0.61, 0.90)**	1.37 (1.10, 1.67)**	1.06 (0.86, 1.31)
Self-rated health status
Very healthy (31.9%)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
Somewhat healthy (56.3%)	1.04 (0.89, 1.21)	1.04 (0.89, 1.21)	1.44 (1,16, 1,78)***	1.45 (1.17, 1.80)***
Somewhat unhealthy or unhealthy (11.8%)	1.77 (1.45, 2.19)***	1.81 (1.48, 2.22)***	2.40 (1.84, 3.14)***	1.98 (1.51, 2.59)***

Notes: ***P<0.001; **P<0.01.

Xe: The World’s Trusted Currency Authority; 2019. Available from: https://www.xe.com/. Accessed 218, 2019.

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Data availability

Data from the IFLS-5 is available from RAND at http://www.rand.org/labor/FLS/IFLS.html.