Thesis:

Self- medication practice and associated factors among under-five children in Bortown, Jonglei state, south Sudan

Self-medication practice has great adverse effects on health of children and has been reported as something common among children under-five years globally. The misuse of pharmaceuticals due to self-medication is a major global public health concern. Parents who self-medicate under-five children risk serious health repercussions for children hence, encourage the likelihood of drug resistance and toxicity. Self- medication has been linked to decreased medicine efficacy, toxicity, mortality, morbidity and worse treatment results. Despite health consequences, self-medication among under-five children in BorTown is on rise. Thus, the study determined self- medication practice and associated factors among under-five children in Bortown, South Sudan. Descriptive cross-sectional design, was used in stratifying the population by location and drawing representative sample using probability proportional to size formula, was utilized. 373 households with under-five children were chosen using simple random selection. In-person interviews using pre-test questionnaire were conducted to compile the research data. SPSS version 25 was used to enter, evaluate and analyse data. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics: mean and standard deviation, and the relationships between variables were determined using inferential statistics-chi-square (X2). All statistical tests were deemed significant at P-value < 0.05. The data was summarized using descriptive statistics: mean and standard deviation, and the relationships between variables were determined using inferential statistics-chi- square (X2). All statistical tests were deemed significant at P-value less than 0.05. Self- medication was practiced by 88.3% (n=323/366) of the study's subjects. Women made up the majority (66.4%), and most of the participants (89.3%) were in their 40s and 50s. Farmers made up the vast bulk of the self-medicating population (91.1%). Self- medication was shown to be related to both occupation (p -value 0.008) and age group (p -value 0.005). Having leftover medication from prior treatments was the leading cause of self-medication (98.1%), followed by the low cost of medication (without consultation or laboratory expenses) (97.8%). There was a strong association between predisposing characteristics and self-medication behaviour (P-value 0.000), and participants' subjective impressions of the practice (p-value 0.000). Approximately 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 for self-medication. All of the features of self-medication were shown to be statistically connected to the behaviour itself (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 a widespread public health education and promotion for parents and health care providers, and should stress risks associated with parents’ self-diagnose of under-five children, indiscriminate use of antimalarial and antimicrobials, inappropriate sources of medicines and wrong perceptions on self- medication.