DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2022.v10i07.002

Pages: 320-323

The rational use of medicines is a concern of any health policy in many countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the management of medicines in households in Bamako, Mali. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study, which took place from August to October 2020. Random sampling was used. A questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics and family drug management. Data were entered and analyzed on Epi info version 17 software. Informed and verbal consent was obtained from the respondents. Of the 150 households visited, 99% had medicines at the time of the survey. For the storage of medicines, 2.7% of respondents used a medicine cabinet. Among the medicines found in the households, painkillers were the most represented (184/668). More than 52% of the medicines in households were acquired on medical prescription against 48% on self-medication. And 21.3% declared that the medicines were within the reach of children. We found that all the households surveyed had a stock of medicines and the bedroom was the room most often used to store them. Very few had a cupboard dedicated to storing medicines in the family.