The Pattern of Antimalarial Drug Use Among Miners in The Fanteakwa District

ABSTRACT    

Background: Every year, malaria affects millions of people globally with the bulk majority occurring in Sub-Sahara Africa of which Ghana is part. To reduce the number of malaria cases and deaths, Ghana adopted and is currently implementing the use of ACTs as a national policy for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. As part of this policy, suspected malaria cases should be tested, treated and tracked to ensure compliance to the use of antimalarial drugs in order to prevent the development of resistance to these expensive ACTs. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of prescribed antimalarial drug use, identify the sources of non-prescribed antimalarial drugs and to determine factors contributing to the use of prescribed antimalarial drugs among miners in the Osino subdistrict of the Fanteakwa district. Method: A descriptive cross sectional study design was used to collect quantitative data from 364 randomly selected mine workers in seven communities of the Fanteakwa district. Face to face interviews using structured questionnaire were conducted to gather data from the participants. Data were analysed using STATA and proportions, percentages, frequencies, Chi square and logistic regression models performed. Results: The prevalence of prescribed antimalarial drug use among the participants was 55.2 % (95% CI: 50.1-60.3). Among those who took prescribed antimalarial drugs 83.1 % (167/201) were given ACTs and 1.2% treated with prescribed herbal medication. For the 163(44.8%) who took non-prescribed antimalarial drugs 110(67.5%) bought their drugs from the chemical and pharmacy shops. Among the respondents who engaged in non-prescribed antimalarial 40.5% (70/163) used ACTS with the rest taking inappropriate iv drugs such as painkillers, herbal medicine and chloroquine. Factors contributing to the use of prescribed antimalarial drugs among the participants include: sex (p=0.042); marital status (p=0.008); citizen (0.004); type of mining (p