Assessment of Self-Medication Practice and Drug Storage on Private Pharmacy Clients in Jimma Town, Oromia, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

A number of individuals in developing countries do not attend physicians for their illnesses, instead they commonly use self-medication. Self-medication could be using drugs existing in home like over the counter (OCT) drugs, traditional medicine, prescription only drug. Self-medication is not always bad; hence for the over the counter drugs, it is beneficial. Most of the time drugs stored on unsafe place may result in decrease in drug's efficacy. The objective of this paper is to assess self-medication and drug storage conditions on private pharmacy clients in Jimma town. A community-based cross sectional prospective study had been conducted in Jimma town from June 28 to July 14, 2013 GC. The data had been collected by semistructure-questionnaire consisting questions on general demographic, socio-economic as well as on perceived illness/symptoms in the past one year and actions taken for it and administered to respondents of 405 systematically selected client. The collected data had been analyzed by using calculator.

Keywords: Self-Medication Practice, Drug Storage, Private Pharmacy Clients