New Delhi, Jun 14 (IANS): At least 46 per cent of rural and 53 per cent of urban residents have used Ayush system of medicines for prevention or treatment of ailments in the past 365 days, according to the first all-India survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

The findings showed that approximately 95 per cent of rural and 96 per cent of urban respondents are aware of Ayush.

At least one member is aware of medicinal plants/home remedies/local health tradition/folk medicine in about 85 per cent of rural and 86 per cent of urban households, the survey findings showed.

The survey covered 1,81,298 households, including 1,04,195 in rural areas and 77,103 in urban areas.

In rural India, about 95 per cent of males as well as females aged 15 years and above, have been found to be aware about Ayush while in urban India it has been around 96 per cent.

The broad objectives of the survey were to collect information on awareness of people about the traditional system of healthcare; uses of Ayush for prevention or treatment of ailments; and awareness of the households about home remedies, medicinal plants, and local health tradition/folk medicine.

“About 79 per cent of households in rural India and about 80 per cent of the households in urban India have at least one member aware about medicinal plants and home medicines, while around 24 per cent of the households have at least one member aware about folk medicine or local health tradition in both rural and urban India,” the findings showed.

Ayush stands for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy -- the six Indian systems of medicine.