Self-medication with antimalarials drugs in Lubumbashi city (DR Congo)

Abstract

Self-medication for malaria is very common in Sub-Saharan Africa where this parasitosis is endemic. In order to determine the extent, characteristics and factors associated with this practice in medical area in the city of Lubumbashi, a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out by direct interview from January 2018 to June 2018, in the internal medicine departments of 10 General Referral Hospital (GRH) . Five thousand one hundred and thirtyfour patients were consulted among them, 96.6% (average age 38.7 ± 8 years; average income: 100 ± 12 USD; gender male/ female ratio: 0.86) practice self-medication with antimalarials. They used it for the first time at an average age of 13-17 years. Quinine (36.4%) and Carica papaya (0.4%) are the most used remedies in conventional and non-conventional medicine, respectively. Several risks are incurred during this practice when the most cited are worsening side effects (53%), incomplete treatment (37%) and appearance to health sciences (37%). Age (17-35 and > 65 years old), low income (50-150 USD), membership in a health sector and the claim to know antimalarial drugs, predispose patients to self-medication. There is an urgent need to regulate this practice to avoid its harmful consequences.

The impact of anti-malarial markets on artemisinin resistance: perspectives from Burkina Faso

“…A survey conducted in Burkina Faso urban private pharmacies among 1,467 people who came to buy an anti-malarial, revealed that 2/3 had come directly, without a prescription [ 34 ]. A high rate of self-medication has also been observed in the Democratic Republic of Congo with 96 to 98% of respondents in studies admitting to self-medicate with anti-malarials [ 78 , 79 ]. In contrast, a study in Ghana reports a lower proportion (16.8%) of non-prescribed anti-malarial use, and explains it by the existence of National Health Insurance Scheme [ 77 ].…”