‘Self medication responsible for high malaria deaths in Nigeria ’
A medical practitioner in Edo state, Dr Jude Omoroge, has attributed the high death rate from malaria in the country to self medication. He said another reason was people’s refusal to access and use preventive and curative facilities provided by the government. Dr Jude explained that the deaths from malaria in the country […]
A medical practitioner in Edo state, Dr Jude Omoroge, has attributed the high death rate from malaria in the country to self medication.
He said another reason was people’s refusal to access and use preventive and curative facilities provided by the government.
Dr Jude explained that the deaths from malaria in the country was not as a result of absence or high cost of drugs but the way people use medication to manage health conditions themselves, as well as lack of awareness on the availability of drugs and other facilities to prevent malaria.
The doctor, who is also the Chief Medical Director, St Jude Medical Diagonistic Centre, Auchi said that instead of people to go to health facilities whenever they were down with malaria, they just walk into any chemist shop, buy drugs without prescription and administer them in doses that were not adequate nor prescribed.
“When you take drugs in doses that are inadequate, it creates a development of malaria resistance in the individual and once there is malaria resistance, you could die,” he said.
According to him, donor agencies and nongovernmental organisation were supporting Nigeria with preventive and curative facilities in the management of malaria hence the cost is not really the problem.