Abstract:
Although there is an increasing concern about rational drug
use and how to improve prescribing habits, little research
has been done on the extent to which drugs are kept at
household level and instances for their acquisition and
use. A cross sectional survey of 400 households was
conduct~~ in ten administrative wards of Kinondoni district
from February to March 1994.
The aim of the study was to determine the factors
associated with use and misuse of medicinal drugs at
household level. House to house interview was conducted,
and a questionnaire was used for data collection.
The findings showed that, 73.3% of the sampled households
store drugs at home. Moreover 761 different drug
preparations were found stored. The drug groups mostly
found were, analgesic/antipyretic (19.8%), antimalarials
(19.6%), antibacterials (16.4%), and cough
expectorants/sedative (6.2%). Apart from modern medicines,
1.2% were traditional medicines.
The main source of these drugs were pharmacy shops (35.2%),
private hosp/disp (29.6%) and govt hosp/disp (19.3%) others
were relatives/friends (8.3%), ordinary shops (5.3%) and
medical store (2.3%).
Two thirds of the drugs were in open storage facilities
while one third were under lock. Additionally almost (30%)
were stored for more than two weeks.
It was also observed that 83.3% of respondents agreed that
they practice self medication with numerous instances of
inappropriate self medication and indiscriminate use of
antibiotics and injections. Nearly 50% of the households
were sharing drugs within and across the households.
In view of shortages of among other things drugs at
government health sectors, a majority of households accept
the cost sharing policy, but they suggest that the quality
of government health facilities should be improved, with
the availability of all prescribed drugs.
It is recommended that, the Drug Information Unit of the
Pharmacy Board, together with the Health Education Unit
(MOH) should educate the population on drug storage, proper
source of prescribed drugs, and the effects of misuse of
drugs. Further more it is suggested that more studies
should be conducted all over the country to ascertain the
pattern of drug use at househol
