Abstract

SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICE AMONG HEALTH SCIENCE STUDENTS IN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AFRICA (IUA), KHARTOUM, SUDAN

Farhan Hassan Furreh, Alia Abdelmonem Mohamed Eltayeb1, Mayadah Hamza Mohamed Ahmed, Asma Noureldaim Mahmoud Mohamed, Shayoub M. E. and
Hisham Mohamed Osman*

Abstract

Self-medication can be defined as the use of drugs to treat selfdiagnosed disorders or symptoms or the intermittent or continued use of a prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptoms. The self-medication option is usually selected by consumers for symptoms that they regard as sufficiently troublesome to require drug therapy, but not serious enough to justify a physician consultation. Objectives: To determine the reasons, extent and correlates of self-medication among health science students in IUA. Methodology: This was a descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study done (n=241) health science students in IUA, Khartoum from November 2015 to April 2015. It is a questionnaire based study and the history of self-medication for the last six months was collected. Result: Both positive attitude towards self-medication and prevalence of selfmedication were high in the study as reported by 49% and 74% respectively. Mildness of illness was the main reason for self-medication. Headache was the main condition and accordingly paracetamol was the highest reported drug used as self-medication. Pharmacy was the main source of medication and self-decision was the leading source of information for self-medication. The majority of the students fully relieved after self-medication. No association between self-medication and study year was found (p>0.05). Pharmacy students practiced self-medication more than the non-pharmacy students. Conclusion: The study shows high positive attitude towards self-medication and high prevalence of self-medication. Our study highlights the need to improve self-medication awareness.

Keywords: Self medication, drugs, over the counter.