Irrational use of Medicine

April 7, 2004
1 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

Kathmandu: Almost half of all medicines globally are used irrationally. This, say medicines experts at the World Health Organization (WHO), can have severe consequences: adverse drug reactions, drug resistance, protracted illness and even death. In addition, the financial cost incurred by individuals and governments due to irrational use is unnecessary and often extremely high, particularly in developing countries where patients often pay for medicines out of pocket.

Irrational use of medicines includes: over-treatment of a mild illness; inadequate treatment of a serious illness; misuse of anti-infective drugs; over-use of injections; self-medication of prescription drugs; premature interruption of treatment. Several country figures show that such practices are frequent, and not exclusively in developing countries.

In Nepal, over 50% of antibiotics prescribed in 1996 were not needed and 40% of medicines expenditure in the same year was wasted due to inappropriate prescriptions. (WHO)