ISSN 2756-3820
International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 10 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Prevalence of self-medication and health-seeking behavior in a developing country
Shahzad Hussain1*, Farnaz Malik1, Kazi Muhammad Ashfaq1, Ghazala Parveen2, Abdul Hameed3, Safia Ahmad3, Humayun Riaz4, Pervaiz Akhtar Shah5 and Tarik Saeed5
1Drugs Control and Traditional Medicines Division, National Institute of Health, Islamabad-45500, Pakistan.
2Quality Control Laboratories, National Institute of Health, Islamabad-45500, Pakistan.
3Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad-45500, Pakistan.
4University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
5School of Pharmacy, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Accepted 24 June, 2019
Abstract
A randomized, cross-sectional, multi-center study in five cities of Pakistan was under taken amongst a sample of randomly selected urban and rural household to ascertain the health seeking behavior and self-medication by members of the community. Modern drugs were available in 64.2% of households, other drugs, 32.7% had no drugs and 4.1% no drugs. The common drugs available in the homes of urban areas were 66% analgesics as compared to 34% in urban areas (p>0.001), 38% antibiotics in rural as compared to 62% in urban areas (p>0.001), cough syrups 31% in rural as compared to 69% in urban areas (p>0.001) and oral rehydration salt was available in 52% of rural areas as compared to 48% in urban areas (p>0.212). In the rural area, there were 1.9 episodes of illness as compared to 2.3 episodes per household (p>418) in urban areas. Amongst the short duration of illnesses, the most common were 41.2% fever, 14.5% upper and lower respiratory infections, 8.4% gastroenteritis, 8.6% skin problems and 21.2% aches and pains. Most common chronic diseases were 24.1% diabetes mellitus, 25.8% hypertension, 9.3% hepatitis B and C and 7.0% cardiovascular problem. In rural areas, 28.4% drugs were acquired from Pharmacies as compared to 64.6% in urban areas (p>0.001), 14.2% from GPs by rural residents as compared to 23.4% of urban residents (p>0.001). Self-medication was reported in 15.7% of urban areas as compared to 8.3% of rural areas (p>0.001) . The present study reveals that a large number of people are using medicines in urban and rural areas and difficult to stop self-medication. Educational interventions can improve “quality use of medicines” in developing country like Pakistan. Measures are needed to be taken to make health care delivery accessible at primary health care level.
Key words: Health-seeking behavior, self-medication, rural, urban, Pakistan.