Patterns and Predictors of Self-Medication in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Self-medication with antimicrobial agents is a common form of self-care among patients globally with the prevalence and nature differing from country to country. Here we assessed the prevalence and predictors of antimicrobial self-medication in post-conflict northern Uganda. A cross-sectional study was carried out using structured interviews on 892 adult (≥18 years) participants. Information on drug name, prescriber, source, cost, quantity of drug obtained, and drug use was collected. Households were randomly selected using multistage cluster sampling method. One respondent who reported having an illness within three months in each household was recruited. In each household, information was obtained from only one adult individual. Data was analyzed using STATA at 95% level of significance. The study found that a high proportion (75.7%) of the respondents practiced antimicrobial self-medication. Fever, headache, lack of appetite and body weakness were the disease symptoms most treated through self-medication (30.3%). The commonly self-medicated antimicrobials were coartem (27.3%), amoxicillin (21.7%), metronidazole (12.3%), and cotrimoxazole (11.6%). Drug use among respondents was mainly initiated by self-prescription (46.5%) and drug shop attendants (57.6%). On average, participants obtained 13.9±8.8 (95%CI: 12.6–13.8) tablets/capsules of antimicrobial drugs from drug shops and drugs were used for an average of 3.7±2.8 days (95%CI: 3.3–3.5). Over half (68.2%) of the respondents would recommend self-medication to another sick person. A high proportion (76%) of respondents reported that antimicrobial self-medication had associated risks such as wastage of money (42.1%), drug resistance (33.2%), and masking symptoms of underlying disease (15.5%). Predictors of self-medication with antimicrobial agents included gender, drug knowledge, drug leaflets, advice from friends, previous experience, long waiting time, and distance to the health facility. Despite knowledge of associated risks, use of self-medication with antimicrobial drugs in management of disease symptoms is a common practice in post-conflict northern Uganda.

Level and Correlates of Self-medication among Adults in a Rural Setting of Mainland Tanzania

“…The association between gender of respondent and SM especially men having elevated odds to SM has been documented previously in a Ugandan study [29] . Although there have been studies that suggest more women seeking health care than men [30] , this dominance changes depending on type of morbidity as it is the case for pulmonary tuberculosis [31,32] .…”

Prevalence and factors associated with self-medication in rheumatology in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…In France, 80% of the population uses self-medication and 20% of the population suffers from rheumatic diseases (2). In sub-Saharan Africa, the existing data mainly concern the overall self-medication rate, which varies from 11.9% to 75.7% (3,4). Self-medication appears to be more common in women and is associated with a low socioeconomic level.…”

Evaluation of the Regulation of Antibiotics Consumption in Bujumbura, Burundi

“…The lack of policies or their inadequate implementation enables easy over-the-counter access of antibiotics. In Uganda, a study found that over half (59.3%) of community members who practiced antimicrobial self-medication were not aware of any restrictions on their non-prescription use in the country [16]. This occurs in spite of the existence of national drug policy formulated in 2002 which limits antibiotics to prescription only use.…”