Drug disposal practices: preliminary results in Vale do Jequitinhonha, MG, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the ways of disposing of medicines by residents in the municipality of Vale do Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was carried out, like a household population survey, with a random sample of 382 residents, using a self-made questionnaire, with the following variables: socio-demographic, health conditions, medications in use and access to the health service and the medicine. The participants were predominantly female (73.6%), self-declared brown (59.4%), with low education (40.8% incomplete elementary school), married or living with a partner (51.0%), in good health (61.0%), non-smokers (70.9%) and who did not practice regular physical activity (53.1%). When asked about access to health services, 91.9% and 91.4% lived less than five kilometers from the basic health unit and the basic pharmacy, respectively. In relation to the last medical consultation, 40.8% had done it in the last month. Regarding the destination of the remnants of medicines, 64.1% throw them in the domestic garbage and 17.3% did discard the losers in the toilet. It was concluded that there was an inadequate practice of drug disposal. From this perspective, the importance of a management program on appropriate disposal practices is recognized. Thus, strategies for improving relations between health units in the care network must be developed in an attempt to safely dispose of medicines and raise awareness for protecting the environment.