CAM services in New Zealand

Provision of CAM 

• CAM services are provided by CAM practitioners and by some mainstream health professionals such as doctors or nurses.  In most cases, practitioners can legally provide services with or without formal training.

 

• CAM products can be obtained from pharmacies, homoeopathic pharmacies, health food stores and supermarkets.  Consumers can also purchase CAM products from practitioners; for example, herbal tonics may be purchased from herbalists.  Other non-shop-based retailers also sell CAM products, for instance, by mail order or over the Internet.

 

• Therapies and products are provided in a wide variety of ways.  These include needling; touching; manipulation of the muscles or spine; taking pills, tonics, or enemas; and using creams or essential oils.

 

Use of CAM 

• A wide range of CAM therapies is available in New Zealand.  For more information on individual therapies, see the section on CAM modalities, which is currently under construction.

 

• In 1997 the New Zealand Consumers' Institute carried out a random survey of its members[i].  This survey found that the most widely used therapies were chiropractic, herbal medicine and homoeopathy.  Therapies with a high satisfaction rate included chiropractic, osteopathy and faith healing.

 

• The Consumer Institute survey reported that, of those respondents who had seen a doctor for the same ailment, 65 percent had informed their doctor that they were also seeing a CAM practitioner.  The doctors were reported to be most supportive where the CAM practitioner was an acupuncturist, aromatherapist or osteopath (63% support for each). Doctors were least likely to support herbal medicine (26%) or naturopathy (23%).

 

For more information on consumers of CAM, see the section on Consumers

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[i] In 1997 the New Zealand Consumers' Institute sent survey forms to a random sample of 12,000 subscribers to Consumer magazine.  Of the 8,007 who replied, 4,084 had tried a CAM therapy.  See From arsenic to zinc in Issue 363 of Consumer, pp 20-27 (September 1997).

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