Self-Medication Practice and Associated Factors in under-Five Children by Parents in Bortown, Jonglei State, South Sudan

Abstract

Parents who self-medicate children under-five risk exposing them to serious health consequences such as drug resistance, worst treatment outcome and toxicity. Despite these health consequences, self-medication among children under-five years in BorTown is on the rise. Thus, the study sought to determine self-medication practice and associated factors among children under-five years in BorTown, South Sudan. Descriptive cross-sectional design, which involved stratifying the population by location and drawing representative sample using probability proportional to size formula, was utilized. 373 households with children under-five were chosen using simple random selection. In-person interviews using pre-test questionnaire were conducted. SPSS was used to analyse data. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics and the relationship between constructs was determined using chi-square. All statistical tests were deemed significant at P-value < 0.05. The findings of the study indicated that self-medication was practiced by 88.3% (n=323/). Women were the majority (66.4%), and farmers made up 91.1% of the self-medicating population. Self-medication was associated to age (p -value 0.005) and occupation (p -value 0.008). Leftover medications from prior treatments were the leading cause of self-medication (98.1%), followed by the low cost/no consultation or laboratory expenses (97.8%). 37.2% of self-medication medicines came from unused prescriptions, and 34.4% came from local pharmacies. Self-medication was most often driven by diarrhoea (40.7%), followed by fever (20.5%). Antimalarial (36.6%) and antimicrobials (29%) were the main medicines used for self-medication. Factors causing self-medication, features of self-medication and perceptions on self- medication were associated to self-medication (p-value 0.000).  Self-medication, irrational use of medicines and myths on self-medication are public health problems in BorTown. Therefore, this study called for public health education and promotion for parents and health care providers, and should stress risks associated with parents’ self-diagnose of children under-five, indiscriminate use of antimalarial and antimicrobials, inappropriate sources of medicines, and wrong perceptions on self-medication.