Situation of Medicines and Dietary Supplements in the Health Provider Board Region 3

Abstract

Objective: To determine the situation of use of medicines and unsafe drugs and dietary supplements in the Health Provider Board Region 3. Methods: This is a descriptive research in 3 levels i.e., individual, household and community. Subjects were 717 patients with chronic diseases randomly selected from those residing in 5 districts conveniently selected from 5 provinces in the Health Provider Board Region 3, one district per province. The subjects were from 599 households. Village health volunteers trained as research assistances were the ones who collected the data on drug use and unsafe drugs and dietary supplements within the households by interviewing, observation, testing suspected products using the test kit, checking the labels of health products with the database of Food and Drug Administration and the checking the products using the database on unsafe products of the Department of Medical Sciences. Pharmacists and research assistants surveyed the availability of prohibited drugs in all 121 groceries and local convenient stores within 5 selected districts. Results: A large number of subjects reported the difficulty in label reading (33.61%), increasing or reducing doses without physician advice (14.23%), and keeping oral preparations and topical drugs in the same places (11.85%). The use of unsafe drugs and dietary supplements was found in 10.52% of households (63 of 599 surveyed households) with 112 items of unsafe products. Of these, 53.62% were unregistered/steroid containing/over-claimed drugs, 23.19% were Yachud (products containing multiple drugs within the same container and intended to be together at the same time), 20.29% were unregistered/steroid containing/over claimed dietary supplements, and 2.90% were antibiotics. Sources of unsafe drugs and dietary supplements were family members or neighbors (28.99%), drug stores (23.19%), and local convenient stores (21.74%). At the community level, 67.77% of local convenient store (82 of 121 stores) sold prohibited drug. Of 242 items of identified prohibited drugs, 29.75% were cough and cold drugs, 21.90% were antibiotics, and 18.60% were painkillers.  The source of such drugs were from drug stores (84.71%), convenient stores (9.09%) and mobile stores (2.07%).  Conclusion: The problems on unsafe medicines and dietary supplements were still prevalent in the Health Provider Board Region 3 at the levels of individual, family, and community. Appropriate interventions for consumer protection are needed.