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Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing

BACKGROUND: Lack of knowledge of rational use of antimalarial drugs among medicine vendors is a serious problem, notably in areas of intense transmission. These misunderstandings increase the risks of resistance and adverse drug reactions. This study aimed to assess knowledge of malaria and environm...

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Autores principales: Ajonina, Marcelus U., Ware, Kenric B., Ngonga, Deodata B., Abong, Raphael A., Nfor, Carine K, Apinjoh, Tobias O.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8127083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34007559
http://dx.doi.org/10.24926/iip.v10i3.1381
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author Ajonina, Marcelus U.
Ware, Kenric B.
Ngonga, Deodata B.
Abong, Raphael A.
Nfor, Carine K
Apinjoh, Tobias O.
author_facet Ajonina, Marcelus U.
Ware, Kenric B.
Ngonga, Deodata B.
Abong, Raphael A.
Nfor, Carine K
Apinjoh, Tobias O.
author_sort Ajonina, Marcelus U.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Lack of knowledge of rational use of antimalarial drugs among medicine vendors is a serious problem, notably in areas of intense transmission. These misunderstandings increase the risks of resistance and adverse drug reactions. This study aimed to assess knowledge of malaria and environments wherein medicine vendors dispense antimalarials in the Buea community. METHODS: Administration of a community-based cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 140 medicine vendors living within the Buea community occurred between March and June 2017. The survey sought to obtain information from medicine vendors on their general knowledge of malaria as well as their dispensing practices. Statistically significant findings were associated with p ≤ .05. RESULTS: The majority of participants were aware that use of insecticide – treated bed nets (ITNs) and maintenance of a clean environment equate to effective malaria prevention efforts. Alternatively, only one-third of participants correctly attributed the causative organism of malaria to being protozoan. Participants employed within drugstore settings had less knowledge of malaria than their hospital/community counterparts did. A directly proportional relationship existed between the amount of experience that participants had in their respective disciplines with an increased knowledge of malaria overall. CONCLUSION: These findings reveal fluctuating knowledge of malaria among study participants. Reported antimalarial dispensing practices also warrants room for improvement. Routine monitoring and evaluation to prevent emergence of resistant strains to current efficacious antimalarials remains paramount.
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spelling pubmed-81270832021-05-17 Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing Ajonina, Marcelus U. Ware, Kenric B. Ngonga, Deodata B. Abong, Raphael A. Nfor, Carine K Apinjoh, Tobias O. Innov Pharm Original Research BACKGROUND: Lack of knowledge of rational use of antimalarial drugs among medicine vendors is a serious problem, notably in areas of intense transmission. These misunderstandings increase the risks of resistance and adverse drug reactions. This study aimed to assess knowledge of malaria and environments wherein medicine vendors dispense antimalarials in the Buea community. METHODS: Administration of a community-based cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 140 medicine vendors living within the Buea community occurred between March and June 2017. The survey sought to obtain information from medicine vendors on their general knowledge of malaria as well as their dispensing practices. Statistically significant findings were associated with p ≤ .05. RESULTS: The majority of participants were aware that use of insecticide – treated bed nets (ITNs) and maintenance of a clean environment equate to effective malaria prevention efforts. Alternatively, only one-third of participants correctly attributed the causative organism of malaria to being protozoan. Participants employed within drugstore settings had less knowledge of malaria than their hospital/community counterparts did. A directly proportional relationship existed between the amount of experience that participants had in their respective disciplines with an increased knowledge of malaria overall. CONCLUSION: These findings reveal fluctuating knowledge of malaria among study participants. Reported antimalarial dispensing practices also warrants room for improvement. Routine monitoring and evaluation to prevent emergence of resistant strains to current efficacious antimalarials remains paramount. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2019-07-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8127083/ /pubmed/34007559 http://dx.doi.org/10.24926/iip.v10i3.1381 Text en © Individual authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Ajonina, Marcelus U.
Ware, Kenric B.
Ngonga, Deodata B.
Abong, Raphael A.
Nfor, Carine K
Apinjoh, Tobias O.
Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title_full Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title_fullStr Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title_full_unstemmed Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title_short Malaria Perceptions among Medicine Vendors in Buea Community: An Assessment of Knowledge of Malaria and Conditions of Antimalarial Drug Dispensing
title_sort malaria perceptions among medicine vendors in buea community: an assessment of knowledge of malaria and conditions of antimalarial drug dispensing
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8127083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34007559
http://dx.doi.org/10.24926/iip.v10i3.1381
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