Knowledge, practices and compliance related to COVID-19 among Nepalese population in Province 2, Nepal.

Aim: The study aimed to access the knowledge, practice, and compliance related to COVID-19 among people residing in Province 2, Nepal. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2020 to March 2021. A total of 457 participants of eight districts of Province 2 were enrolled after obtaining consent. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews with participants. A total of 31 validated pre-structured questionnaires were asked to participants in which 11 questions were for knowledge, 12 questions were for practices, and 8 questions were for compliance related to COVID-19. For tool validation, pre-testing was done in 10.0% of individuals of the targeted study population of Mahottari district. Results: Out of 457 participants, 353(77.2%) were male. The majority of the participants were unmarried (68.3%), had only school-level education (26.5%), Hindu by religion (89.7%), farmers (23.0%), and businessmen (23.0%). More than 75.0% of individuals had knowledge about the causative agent of COVID-19 symptoms and the purpose of isolation. About 53.8% of participants had good knowledge of social distancing, 31.1% had knowledge of masks, and 39.3% knew about sanitizer. Moreover, 94.3% of the respondents had good knowledge of hand-washing practice with soap-water and use of sanitizer, 89.1% had good knowledge of wearing masks and 82.9% followed social distancing. Compliance with standard procedures of sneezing was recorded in 43.1%, washing hands with soap water/sanitizer was 82.3%, and disposal of masks was 53.6%. A significant association was observed between gender with knowledge and compliance (p < 0.05). District-wise association with knowledge, practice and compliance was found to be significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that participants have a good level of knowledge; however, the practice and compliances are considerably low related to COVID-19.

Medical abortion kit dispensing practices of community pharmacies in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Medical abortion (MA) refers to the use of medicines to terminate the pregnancy. There is an urgent need to spread safe abortion services in the community. This study assessed the MA kit dispensing practices of community pharmacies in Pokhara Valley, Nepal. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Pokhara Valley, Nepal from December 2017 to November 2018. Among the community pharmacies of Pokhara Valley, 115 community pharmacies were selected using a consecutive sampling method. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. MA kit and related information were requested by simulated male clients visiting the community pharmacies. The information obtained from the pharmacy workers was recorded in the data collection sheet. RESULTS: Nine brands of MA kit from eight manufacturing companies were found in practice in Pokhara Valley, out of those only five (56%) were registered in Nepal. Seven brands were sold at more than the labeled price. The pharmacy workers asked about the gestational age and confirmation of pregnancy in all the cases. Most of them counseled the clients on the frequency, duration, and direction of use. Dispensing practice and level of counseling were found to be significantly correlated (r = 0.40, p value = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Despite the awareness of the pharmacy workers on the MA kit, most of them provided limited information to the clients. Nearly half unregistered MA kits were found in practice at the community pharmacies. Thus, the Department of Drugs Administration and other concerned authorities must provide relevant training and awareness programs to the pharmacy workers of the community pharmacies for preventing the malpractice of MA kit. The Government of Nepal must restrict the illegal entry of unregistered brands and assure the standards of MA kit by regulating drug acts and policies effectively.

Survey on the availability, price and affordability of selected essential medicines for non-communicable diseases in community pharmacies of Kathmandu valley.

BACKGROUND: The access to essential medicines for non-communicable disease treatment is unacceptably low worldwide. The fundamental right to health cannot be fulfilled without equitable access to essential medicines. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 94 community pharmacies of Kathmandu valley. Non-probability quota sampling method was adopted for the purpose. Village Development Committees with more than 5000 populations were included in the study. The availability of the selected essential medicines, their price and producer identity were observed. Data entry and analysis were carried out in Microsoft Excel and Statistical package for social science. RESULT: The availability of the essential medicines was not 100% in Kathmandu valley. High competition and high price variation were seen in metformin 500 mg (254.6%) and atorvastatin 10 mg (327.6%). The study showed that maximum (54.7%) brands were manufactured in Nepal. Furthermore, atorvastatin 10 mg (0.6 day wage) was found to be quite expensive, and glibenclamide 5 mg (0.1 day wage) was the cheapest one for diabetes mellitus treatment for 1 month of treatment period compared to daily wages of other essential medicines. CONCLUSION: The availability of the selected essential medicines was found to be ununiform and insufficient in the entire region. High competition was observed in the products with high price variation, and the access to cost-effective brand was poor. Furthermore, it was found that government salary is affordable to treat non-communicable disease with the help of the essential medicines.