Situation on Distribution and Use of Household Drugs in Community within a District in the Northeast

Abstract

Objective: To survey the distribution of household drugs in grocery stores and the use of household drugs among public in Lamduan district. Surin. Method: This research was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The subjects were 78 purposively sampled grocery stores and 313 people in the community selected by multi-stage sampling. Data collection was conducted between December 2018 and January 2019 using form for drug list survey, questionnaire for owners of the groceries, and interview form for the use of household drugs among public. Results: 76 out of 78 groceries distributed non-household drugs (97.4%), and 51 distributed household drugs (65.4%). Nine out of 16 groups of modern household drugs (56.2%) and 9 out of 22 traditional household drugs (40.1%) were available in groceries, i.e., not covering all groups of drugs in the Announcement of Ministry of Public Health regarding modern household drugs B.E.2542, and that regarding traditional household drugs B.E 2556. The most widely distributed household drugs was pain and fever relievers (paracetamol tablets and syrup), followed by expectorants for cough (brown mixture) and traditional expectorant syrup. Most owners of the groceries agreed that advantages of household drugs were convenience to use, easy to use, having fast relief, safe and able to distribute with no need of selling license. The exclusive distribution of household drugs did not affect customers' demand, profits or revenues. Regarding the use of the modern household drugs among public, 65% of the subjects knew paracetamol tablets and 76.8% reported having used household drugs. The reasons for using household drugs included relieving the symptoms before visiting doctors (45.7%) and convenience and being easy to access (22.4%).  Conclusion: A small proportion of groceries exclusively distributes household drugs. On the contrary, they sell what clients demand.  Owners of grocery stores and public agree that household drugs are convenient, easy to use, and can be sold without legal permission. However, government agencies should advise the sellers and campaign with community participation to inform public on the types of drugs that are legally sold.