Publications

Self-medication particularly with analgesics and antibiotics have been reported by WHO asone of the major causes of antibiotic resistance. In country, like Uganda there is a wide rangeof drugs, coupled with inadequate health services have resulted to an increased number ofdrugs used as a self-medication compared to prescribed drugs. Assessment of knowledgeand practice of self-medication is needed especially in rural settings. This was ananonymous, questionnaire-based, descriptive study. Questionnaires containing closed endedquestions were administered to 288 second year undergraduate medical students. Dataanalysis was performed using STATA 14. Descriptive statistics were performed in terms offrequencies and percentages. Statistical significance was assessed at alpha of 0.05. Theresearch results indicated that the mean age was (24) and the majority of the studentswho participated in the study were male (63%). The prevalence of self-medication in thestudy was found to be markedly high (83.4%). The most important reason for self-medicationwas that it is cheaper (91%) and the majority (92%) of the students reported that they selfmedicatedbecause of diarrhea/vomiting with antacids found to be the highly used class ofdrug (93%). Majority of the students got the information concerning the drugs throughadvertisements (98%) and (92%) of the students bought medicine from drug shops. In conclusion, most of the students feared having the side effects of the medications since they were self-prescribed without any experience