Exploring Household medicine waste in Iraq

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore household medicine wastes and their storage and disposal behavior in Iraq. This is a cross-sectional study conducted through an online questionnaire. Method: This is a cross-sectional study using an online form. The study collected data on the demographic of precipitants, the quantity and class of medication wastes, and the method of eliminating and discarding behaviors in Iraq. Results: A total of 742 house reports were included. There were 22,072 waste items in total. Paracetamol was the highest medication wasted (10.7%) product. The overall number of expired medications was 5332, with anti-infectives accounting for the biggest share (10.4 %). The majority of the expired drugs (78.1 %) were discarded in the garbage, whereas (61.7 %) of non-expired wastes are retained for future use. Among the various potential factors evaluated as a source of waste and expired drugs, 21.9 % were attributed to patient improvement. Regarding the storage sites, the refrigerator was the primary location. Conclusion: In conclusion, there is a large volume of domestic pharmaceutical waste which discarded in unplanned and harmful ways.