We found that first, the use of traditional healing is much less common than that of non-traditional healing in

both rural and urban areas. Second the use of traditional healing is also substantially lower than that of
non-traditional healing across all socio-economic and demographic strata. Third, the use of traditional
healing is slightly higher in rural areas for STMs compared to urban areas; fourth, the use of traditional
healing is relatively higher for diseases such as cataract (specifically in rural areas), leprosy, asthma, polio,
paralysis, epilepsy and mental illnesses with the use being highest for epilepsy in rural areas and mental
illness in urban areas. Fifth, the total cost of care as well as the mean waiting time in the health facility or in
receiving the health service is substantially lower in the case of traditional healing compared to non-
traditional healing in both rural as well as urban areas. Finally, among the patients who use both traditional
as well as non-traditional healing, a relatively higher degree use traditional healing complimented by non-
traditional healing for short-term illnesses but non-traditional healing complemented by traditional healing
for major diseases. This shows that among patients who use both traditional and non-traditional healing,
the preference is for non-traditional healing when it comes to major diseases (Singh & Madhavan, 2015).

Reference Entry:
Singh, A., & Madhavan, H. (2015). Traditionalvs. non-traditional healing for minor and major morbidities in
India: uses, cost and quality comparisons. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 20(9), 1223–
1238.https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.12540-economic and

Morbidity prevalence recorded before cancer diagnosis was almost threefold greater using the primary care
(75%) vs secondary care-derived measure (28%). After adjustment, there was limited variation in the
primary care interval and the number of pre-referral consultations by either definition of morbidity. Patients
with more severe morbidities were less likely to have had a primary care-led investigation before cancer
diagnosis compared with those without any morbidity (Hernandez, 2022).

Hernandez, J. B. R. (2022, October 3). Epidemiology Morbidity And Mortality. StatPearls - NCBI
Bookshelf.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547668/demographic strata.