OBJECTIVES:

To conduct a pilot investigation of the frequency with which individuals visit practitioners of Western and traditional Mongolian medicine and their motivations for making these visits.

DESIGN:

Survey based interviews were conducted in a sample of 90 adults.

SETTING:

Darkhan, Mongolia.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Measures included the annual frequency of visits to practitioners of traditional and Western medicine as well as ratings of the importance of seven factors in choosing what type of practitioner to use.

RESULTS:

During the past year, 51% of subjects interviewed had used Western services exclusively, 8% had used traditional services exclusively, and 38% had used both types of services. Users and non-users of traditional medicine did not vary in terms of age, gender, occupation or rural vs urban residence. Traditional medicine users rated the knowledge base of traditional practitioners higher than did nonusers (5.3/7 vs 4.5/7, P < 0.01). A patient's specific illness appears to be important in deciding what type of treatment he will seek.

CONCLUSIONS:

Traditional medicine appears to be a more significant component of Mongolian health care than is reported in the international literature and consequently may deserve additional attention in future studies of the country's medical system.