Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Disposal Practice of Unused and Expired Pharmaceuticals in Community of Adigrat City, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background. Medicines have become part of our day-to-day life. Due to different reasons, patients may not use all the medications dispensed to them. The storage of drugs at home promotes self-medication, which results in variety of adverse consequences. Global growth in health-seeking awareness and behavior among people has resulted in increment of medicine consumption over years. However, Ethiopians have little awareness about proper disposal of unused and expired pharmaceuticals. Besides, large quantities remain unused or expired since not all medications given to the consumers are consumed. Hence, this study could serve as an indicator for the country policy makers concerning pharmaceutical waste management. Objective. To assess knowledge, attitude, and disposal practice of unused and expired pharmaceuticals in the community of Adigrat city, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2019. Methodology. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 359 respondents from the residents of Adigrat city. Semistructured questionnaires, which focused on knowledge, attitudes, and disposal practices for unused and expired medications, were used to collect data from respondents. Epi-data 3.0 suite and the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 were used in data entry and analysis. Results. All of the 359 returned questionnaires were valid for data entry and analysis. Of the 359 respondents, 57.7% were men and the majority (93%) were Orthodox Christians. Almost half of the respondents (50.14%) have good knowledge concerning the disposal of unused and expired pharmaceuticals. Most (82.2%) of the respondents have a positive attitude towards the disposal of unused and expired pharmaceuticals. Around fifty-two (52.4) of the respondents had unused medicines stored at home, with analgesics being the most common (41.5%). Around three-quarters (75.2%) and 63% of the respondents discarded unused and expired medicines in the garbage bins, respectively. Conclusion. Although the majority of the respondents had a positive attitude towards the disposal of unused and expired medications, almost half of the sample population were unaware of proper disposal practices. Furthermore, less were inclined to practice proper disposal of unused and expired medications in the city. Therefore, we recommend further studies that focus on how the disposal attitude of the population can influence their knowledge and practice of the disposal of unused and expired medications.

The Perception and Disposal Practices of Unused And Expired Medicines By Households In an Urban Municipality, Southwest Nigeria: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.

“…The respondents had a positive attitude and high perception ratings, irrespective of the settlement area. This also agrees with ndings in Brazil [49] and Ethiopia [26,27]. [26,28].…”

“…This also agrees with ndings in Brazil [49] and Ethiopia [26,27]. [26,28]. Also, antimalarial, analgesics and antibiotics were predominantly stored by households.…”

“…In our study, most respondents were mid-adults in agreement with the respondents' age in the Kabul study [7] while most respondents were Christians, also in congruence with the study in Adigrat city, northern Ethiopia [26]. This is a productive population that is active in childbearing and innately tasked with caring for the wellbeing of the family.…”

“…Turkey [26,27,37,38], especially respondents in LDS in contrast to those in HDS where a majority has poor knowledge, in congruence with a study in Kenya [39], perhaps due to diversity in their socio-demographic characteristics. In the study area, sound UEMs management practice goes beyond the capacity of the households due to absence of necessary supportive mechanism and giving people information does not make them change, in any case.…”

“…Most respondents in LDS have good knowledge in contrast to those in HDS where a majority has poor knowledge. This is rare in literature and contrast to previous studies [26,27,36,37]. This herald the signi cant differences in knowledge between respondents in HDS and LDS.…”