An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community
Abstract Background Malaria remains a major cause of mortality among under five children in Nigeria. Most of the early treatments for fever and malaria occur through self-medication with antimalarial drugs bought from medicine sellers. These have led to increasing calls for interventions to improve...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ab3649f3ec9d4869881b9c74a360d4dd 2023-05-15T15:08:29+02:00 An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community Okafor Henrietta U Uzochukwu Benjamin SC Okeke Theodora A 2006-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 https://doaj.org/article/ab3649f3ec9d4869881b9c74a360d4dd EN eng BMC http://www.malariajournal.com/content/5/1/97 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/ab3649f3ec9d4869881b9c74a360d4dd Malaria Journal, Vol 5, Iss 1, p 97 (2006) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2006 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 2022-12-30T22:42:16Z Abstract Background Malaria remains a major cause of mortality among under five children in Nigeria. Most of the early treatments for fever and malaria occur through self-medication with antimalarial drugs bought from medicine sellers. These have led to increasing calls for interventions to improve treatment obtained in these outlets. However, information about the current practices of these medicine sellers is needed before such interventions. This study aims to determine the medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria and the determinants that underlie their dispensing patterns of antimalarial drugs. Methods The study was conducted in Ugwugo-Nike, a rural community in south-east Nigeria. It involved in-depth interviews with 13 patent medicine sellers. Results A majority of the medicine sellers were not trained health professionals and malaria is recognized as a major health problem by them. There is poor knowledge and poor dispensing behaviour in relation to childhood malaria episodes. Although referral of severe malaria is common, there are those who will not refer. Verbal advice is rarely given to the care-givers. Conclusion More action research and interventions to improve prescription and referral practices and giving verbal advice to care-givers is recommended. Ways to integrate the drug sellers in the health system are also recommended. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 5 1 97 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Okafor Henrietta U Uzochukwu Benjamin SC Okeke Theodora A An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background Malaria remains a major cause of mortality among under five children in Nigeria. Most of the early treatments for fever and malaria occur through self-medication with antimalarial drugs bought from medicine sellers. These have led to increasing calls for interventions to improve treatment obtained in these outlets. However, information about the current practices of these medicine sellers is needed before such interventions. This study aims to determine the medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria and the determinants that underlie their dispensing patterns of antimalarial drugs. Methods The study was conducted in Ugwugo-Nike, a rural community in south-east Nigeria. It involved in-depth interviews with 13 patent medicine sellers. Results A majority of the medicine sellers were not trained health professionals and malaria is recognized as a major health problem by them. There is poor knowledge and poor dispensing behaviour in relation to childhood malaria episodes. Although referral of severe malaria is common, there are those who will not refer. Verbal advice is rarely given to the care-givers. Conclusion More action research and interventions to improve prescription and referral practices and giving verbal advice to care-givers is recommended. Ways to integrate the drug sellers in the health system are also recommended. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Okafor Henrietta U Uzochukwu Benjamin SC Okeke Theodora A |
author_facet |
Okafor Henrietta U Uzochukwu Benjamin SC Okeke Theodora A |
author_sort |
Okafor Henrietta U |
title |
An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
title_short |
An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
title_full |
An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
title_fullStr |
An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
title_full_unstemmed |
An in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural Nigerian community |
title_sort |
in-depth study of patent medicine sellers' perspectives on malaria in a rural nigerian community |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 https://doaj.org/article/ab3649f3ec9d4869881b9c74a360d4dd |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 5, Iss 1, p 97 (2006) |
op_relation |
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/5/1/97 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/ab3649f3ec9d4869881b9c74a360d4dd |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-5-97 |
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Malaria Journal |
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5 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
97 |
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1766339839898157056 |