Profiling survey of traditional and alternative healthcare practitioners in four provinces in the Philippines

BACKGROUND: Traditional and alternative health care (TAHC) offer valuable contributions to healing, but their lack of official recognition and information on practitioners limits research, training, and development. This study aimed to profile TAHC practitioners in four provinces in the Philippines (Quirino, Samar, Oriental Mindoro, and Agusan del Sur). METHODOLOGY: A quantitative descriptive research design was employed. Utilizing a stratified cluster probability sampling approach, a profiling survey for was administered across randomly selected municipalities within each province. The study population consisted of TAHC practitioners. Two statistical software (Epi-Info 7 and Stata Version 12) were used for the analysis. RESULTS: The study profiled 2691 practitioners across the four provinces. The results showed varying numbers of practitioners per barangay, with Quirino having 345 (5.31 per barangay), Oriental Mindoro having 619 (2.73), Western Samar having 1023 (2.18), and Agusan del Sur having 712 (4.94). Most practitioners were female, married, Roman Catholic, and aging. They had 20–39 years of experience and attended to around 100 patients monthly. Most charged a nominal service fee, with some accepting any amount. CONCLUSION: TAHC practitioners often self-identified as “manghihilot” but classified themselves into multiple categories. The study advocates for integrating TAHC into the health system, citing potential benefits such as addressing health worker shortages, offering patients more choices, and preserving local cultural practices.