Disposal practices of expired and unused medications among households in Mwanza, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: The community practice towards disposal of expired and unused medications in spite of its adverse impact have been widely neglected in many developing countries. The available guidelines in Tanzania focus on the disposal of expired medications and cosmetics in hospitals and community pharmacies only. AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the disposal practice of expired and unused medications at household level in Mwanza city, north-western Tanzania. METHODOLOGY: The household based cross-sectional study was conducted among 359 randomly selected household members. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for interview during data collection and while STATA® version 13 was used for analysis. RESULTS: Out 359 households visited, 252 (70.19%) had medications kept in their houses at the time of data collection. Among them, 10 (4.0%) households had kept medications at their houses because they were still continuing with treatment while 242 (96.0%) kept unused medications which were supposed to be discarded. The main reason for keeping unused or expired medications at home was uncompleted course of treatment (199 (82.20%) after feeling that they had recovered from illness. The main reason for discarding medications were recovering from illness (141(48.7%) and expiry (136 (46.9%). The major discarding practices for medications were disposing into domestic trashes (219 (75.5%) and pit latrines (45 (15.5%). Majority of respondents (273 (76%) were aware that improper disposal of expired medications are detrimental to human health and environment in general. CONCLUSION: Improper disposal of unused and expired medications at household level was a common practice in the study area. Tailor-made interventions by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and other national as well as local stake holders are urgently needed to address the situation.

Microbial contamination of traditional liquid herbal medicinal products marketed in Mwanza city: magnitude and risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: The use of the traditional herbal medicinal products (THMPs) has been increasing worldwide due to the readily availability of raw materials and low cost compared to the synthetic industrial preparations. With this trend in mind, the safety and quality of THMPs need to be addressed so as to protect the community. The present study evaluated the magnitude and risk factors associated with microbial contamination of liquid THMPs marketed in Mwanza. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mwanza city involving 59 participants from whom 109 liquid THMPs were collected and processed following the standard operating procedures. The data were analyzed using STATA software version 11. RESULTS: The median age (interquartile range) of participants was 35 (27-43) years, with males accounting for 36 (61%). Of 109 liquid THMPs collected, 89 (81.7%) were found to be contaminated; with predominant fecal coliforms being Klebsiella spp and Enterobacter spp. fortunately, no pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella spp and Shigella spp were isolated. There was a significant association of liquid THMPs contamination with low education level (p< 0.001), lack of formal training on THMPs (p = 0.023), lack of registration with the Ministry of Health (p = 0.001), lack of packaging of products (p < 0.001) and use of unboiled solvents during preparation of THMPs (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: There is high contamination rate of liquid THMPs in Mwanza City which is attributable to individuals and system-centered factors. Urgent measures to provide education to individuals involved in THMPs as well as setting up policies and regulations to reinforce THMPs safety is needed.