Medicine vendors: Self-medication practices and medicine knowledge

Asa Auta, Simeon Omale, Temitope J. Folorunsho, Shalkur David, Samuel B. Banwat

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (journal)peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Medicine vendors fill the gap created by inadequate skilled professionals required for medicine procurement, storage, and distribution in developing countries. Aim: To evaluate self-medication practice and medicine knowledge among medicine vendors and to determine if a relationship exists between both. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a pretested questionnaire on 236 medicine vendors in Jos, Nigeria, sampled through a two-stage stratified design. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, and the chi-square test was used to determine the association between variables. Results: Self-medication was common (75.4%) among respondents and was not associated (P>0.05) with any of the demographic characteristics studied. The classes of medicines commonly used by respondents for self-medication were analgesics (31.4%), anti-malarials (22.6%), multivitamins (17.7%), and antibiotics (11.25%). A knowledge assessment test revealed that only 34.3% of the respondents had adequate knowledge. There was no significant (P>0.05) relationship between self-medication practice and medicine knowledge, among the respondents. However, the medicine knowledge scores were significantly (P[removed]
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-28
Number of pages5
JournalNorth American Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Medicine knowledge
  • Medicine vendors
  • Self-medication

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