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The common honey bee is an insect that is beneficial to all especially the farmers. Its products include honey, propolis and
bee venom amongst others. Several ailments of humans which cause high morbidity and mortality are more or less not
responding to treatment with conventional remedies and hence, a need for alternative remedies in which bee venom therapy
(BVT) is one. A total of 1500 well structured questionnaires were distributed across the three states of Ondo, Lagos and
Ekiti, Southwest, Nigeria to assess the opinions and perception of the people on the use of BVT as alternative remedy for the
treatment of various ailments. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the rate of perception between the states were observed.
BVT was found to be used more in treating various ailments in Ondo and Ekiti states than Lagos state. The common
ailments treated with BVT in these states included rheumatism, relief of hypertension (RoH) and malaria. Since traditional
medicine plays a crucial role in health care for a large part of the population living in developing countries, this study was to
promote quality of life and the adoption of bee venom therapy among rural-urban dwellers in Nigeria and believers in
traditional medicine globally.
Key words: Bee venom, ailments, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Nigeria, alternative medicine.