Self medication using modern medicine in Kinondoni municipal Dar es Salaam Tanzania

Abstract

This was a cross sectional study whose aim was to assess the magnitude of self medication and associated factors at Kinondoni district, Dar-es- Salaam region. The study involved a total of 402 respondents, of whom 56% were females and the rest were males. Only 45.3% of people who fell sick go to health facility for care. Self medication was practiced by about 50.2% of the respondents and medicines used were mainly obtained from medical stores and pharmacies. Respondents' ability to recall the name of medicine used for treatment was found to be fairly good. Very few respondents were told how to store the medicines dispensed to them. Nearly half(47.8%) of household involved in the study stored medicines at home. The major reason for storing drugs at home was the need to use them for self medication incase of emergency. The medicines stored include prescription and non prescription drugs. Lack of money to pay for these services together with the availability of many pharmacies and medical store in many places are the contributing factors in the magnitude of selfmedication. Given the magnitude of this problem there is a need for pharmacists and the general public to b~ educated on the proper use and storage of drugs in order to minimize potential consequences of practices which were revealed by this study