SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICES OF DRUG CONSUMERS IN ADDIS ABABA: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

1. SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICES OF DRUG CONSUMERS IN ADDIS ABABA: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY Tenaw Andualem and Tsige Gebre-Mariam, School of Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University (INRUD Ethiopia) E-mail: tenawandualem@hotmail.com Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

2. BACKGROUND • Self-medication, one form of self-care is an important initial response to illness. Many illnesses can be successfully treated at this stage. • Self-medication is practised by considerable proportion of the population and is affected by socio-demographic and socio-economic factors. • Tools to evaluate the appropriateness of self-medication still need to be developed. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

3. BACKGROUND Problem Statement: Although there are widespread self-medication practices globally, the magnitude in Ethiopia was not well known. Do drug consumers in Addis Ababa practice responsible self-medication? Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

4. OBJECTIVES • To assess self-medication practices of drug consumers. • To identify the common illness that necessitate self-diagnosis & self-medication; • To identify the frequently requested drugs and determinants of self-medication. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

5. METHODS Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: • Stratified random samples of community pharmacies were selected as study sites. The study includes community pharmacies both public and private located at different geographical locations of Addis Ababa City. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

6. METHODS 2 Study Population: • The study included drug consumers who came for self-medication during January to February 2002. • A total of 1200 convenient samples of self-medicating drug consumers were taken for the study. • Outcome Measure(s)Measuring the magnitude and determinants ofSelf-medication by drug consumers. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

7. RESULTS 1 • Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents revealed that drug consumers consisted of all age categories of both genders; as well as pregnant and breast-feeding mothers of varying educational backgrounds. • The most frequently reported illnesses that prompted self-medication were gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, headache/fever and respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

8. RESULTS 2 • Of those 32.8% of illnesses/ symptoms of illnesses were less than 24 hours; 22.4%, one or more weeks duration. • The most common reasons reported for self-diagnosis and self-medication were non-seriousness of the disease, emergency use and prior experience on the drug. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

9. RESULTS 3 • Two-thirds of the drug consumers requested drugs by specifically mentioning the name of the drug or category to which it belongs and 20.7% by telling their illness/ symptoms of illnesses. • More than 100 different types of drugs were requested, the most frequent category of drugs being analgesics/antipyretics 33.1%, antimicrobials 26.4% and GI drugs 17.7%. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

10. Table 1: Types of requests for self-medication by drug consumers (n = 907, Addis Ababa, Jan-Feb, 2002). Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

11. Table 2: Sources of advice for self-medication as reported by drug consumers (Addis Ababa, Jan-Feb, 2002). Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

12. Illnesses/symptoms of illnesses Frequently requested category of drugs, % AB AN RE GI VT ORS sym* Other Total (100.0%) RTI 27.3 29.2 28.4 5.7 2.3 0.0 4.2 2.3 264 GI 23.5 23.5 4.2 41.2 1.7 1.4 2.8 1.7 289 STDs 50.0 35.3 5.9 2.9 0.0 0.0 5.9 0.0 34 EYE 31.3 45.0 2.5 3.8 3.8 2.5 6.3 5.0 80 Headache 12.6 68.9 4.5 7.1 3.2 0.3 2.6 1.0 309 Skin 38.0 32.6 2.2 5.4 1.1 0.0 9.8 10.9 92 Table 3: Frequently reported Illnesses and the corresponding requested category of drugs for actual drug consumers Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia * Told symptoms only

13. Figure 1: Perceived illnesses by respondents who came to community pharmacies to purchase drugs for self-medication (n = 1329, Addis Ababa, Jan-Feb2002). Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

14. Figure 2: Frequently requested category of drugs for self-medication by drug consumers (n = 780, Addis Ababa, Jan-Feb, 2002). Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

15. Conclusion and Recommendations • Self-medication is widely practiced for a wide range of symptoms of illnesses, and for both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription-only drugs. • The public as well as the health care providers have to be educated on the scopes of self-medication; i.e., the type of illnesses to be self-diagnosed and self-treated, and the type of drug products to be used to promote responsible self-medication. • Self-medication has to be limited to not more than OTC drugs of major concern is antimicrobials. Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia

16. AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH • How to achieve responsible self-medication? • Are drug consumers satisfied with the services during self-medication? If not, what are the sources of dissatisfaction? • Intervention on self-medication Tenaw & Tsige, Self-medication, Ethiopia