An Overview of Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards the Use of Herbs during the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the Covid 19 pandemic, one of the prevention measures suggested by Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) is to consume herbal medicine to boost one's health immunity. The major factors that encourage the individual to consume herbal medicines are their knowledge and attitude towards the herbal medicines themselves. In these pandemic condition, consumption of herbal medicines will still increase as one of the prevention measures. This research aims to understand the knowledge and attitude of indigenous people in Wasur village RT 002 RW 001 regency towards herbal medicines during the pandemic. This research is descriptive research using a cross-sectional approach. The instrument that is being used in this research is a questionnaire. There are 100 people as the sample used in this research was taken under a nonrandom sampling technique with purposive sampling criteria that have been inclusively determined. The results have shown that plants that are frequently consumed as herbal medicines are Sambiloto (36%), Ginger (26%), Meniran leaves (13%), Galangal leaves (13%), Papaya leaves (11%), and Guava leaves (8%). The dosage form that is being used by the sample is decoction. The village's knowledge of the people's herbal medicines is mainly passed down by the family (60%). The majority of these herbal medicines concoctions are local's concoctions. To be noted in this research, 44 persons of the samples passed the "GOOD" knowledge criteria, and 98% passed the "GOOD" criteria for attitude toward herbal medicines. This research concludes that knowledge and attitude are majorly in the "GOOD" criteria. Keywords: Consume, Knowledge, Attitude, Herbal