Denis Mbako Jato*

Integrated Health for All Foundation (IHAF), Yaounde, Cameroon

*Corresponding Author: Denis Mbako Jato, Integrated Health for All Foundation (IHAF), Yaounde, Cameroon.

Received: November 02, 2022; Published: January 10, 2023

Abstract

Introduction: Self-medication remains a global public health concern, with many risks and benefits. This cross-sectional study seeks to analyse these potential good and bad sides and provide a balance where the negative impacts are reduced in the interest of population health.

Methodology: A pilot-tested, validated questionnaire was administered to participants. Data were collected and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and the results expressed as counts and percentages, pie chart and histogram.

Results: Five hundred and fifty (550) questionnaires were administered, and 470 respondents filled correctly (85.45% participation rate). 57.0% of the respondents were undergraduate students, while 38.7% were within the age range 16 - 20 years. Self-medication practice was found to be high among students in higher institutions as shown by a prevalence of 80.6%. Of the 470 respondents, 240 (51.1%) said self-medication practice is good as opposed to 35.3% who disagreed, respectively stating benefits and risks. Drug resistance, treatment complication and disease recurrence emerged as major risks of self-medication (22.98%, 21.70% and 18.09% respectively). Other risks included increased mortality, no drug regulation, disorder, and organ damage. Potential benefits included treatment effectiveness (20.85%), cost-effectiveness (20.21%), time-saving (16.80%), availability (16.60%) and accessibility (11.06%). Economic growth and reduced Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were also considered to be beneficial.

Discussion and Conclusion: The prevalence of self-medication remains high, especially in low resource settings. This study showed that a majority of students of higher institutions favour self-medication. However, this practice needs to be kept under control to reduce the risks and maximize the benefits, towards ensuring population health.

Keywords: Self-medication; Self-Treatment; Risks; Benefits; Analysis

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Citation

Citation: Denis Mbako Jato. “Self-Medication Among Students in Higher Institutions in Yaounde, Cameroon: Risk-Benefit Analysis". Acta Scientific Women's Health 5.2 (2023): 16-21.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Denis Mbako Jato. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.