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Disposal Practices of Unused and Leftover Medicines in the Households of Dhaka Metropolis

Background: This fact-finding study aimed to attain an overall idea and knowledge about medicine disposal practices in Dhaka Metropolitan households. Methods: This mixed study (both quantitative and qualitative) was orchestrated to inspect the household leftover medicine disposal pattern’s governing...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Begum, Mst. Marium, Rivu, Sanzana Fareen, Hasan, Md. Mahmud Al, Nova, Tasnova Tasnim, Rahman, Md. Motiar, Alim, Md. Abdul, Uddin, Md. Sahab, Islam, Azharul, , Nurnahar, Tabassum, Nuzhat, Moni, Md. Marufur Rahman, Roselin, Rehnuma, Das, Munny, Begum, Rayhana, Rahman, Md. Sohanur
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8162525/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34065255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9020103
Descripción
Sumario:Background: This fact-finding study aimed to attain an overall idea and knowledge about medicine disposal practices in Dhaka Metropolitan households. Methods: This mixed study (both quantitative and qualitative) was orchestrated to inspect the household leftover medicine disposal pattern’s governing status. A cross-sectional survey was conducted following a structured questionnaire and key informant interview with a household person and in-depth interviews with the top pharmaceutical and government officials. Results: Findings disclose that, for most of the key informants, the terms “drug disposal” and “drug pollution” were unknown; more precisely, 67% and 74% of key informants even did not hear these two terms. Almost all (87%) households faced undesired incidents due to the insecure storage of medicines. People disposed of excess and expired medication in regular dustbins (47%), threw out of the window (19%), flushed within commode (4%), burnt in fire (2%), and reused (4%). A good percentage of people (21%) returned unexpired drugs to the pharmacy and bought other medicines on a need basis. A total of 72% wanted a medicine take-back program, and 100% agreed on mass education on this issue. Officials of pharmaceuticals conferred mixed opinion: top-ranked pharmaceuticals will adopt leftover medicine disposal practices; middle and low-ranked pharmaceutical companies are reluctant, merely denied mentioning the less important issue. Conclusions: The absence of mass awareness and standard laws and policies may explain these existing aberrant practices.