In-Home Storage and Disposal of Drugs in Libya

Background: In-home storage and disposal of drugs is an overlooked health issue that may lead, if in appropriately practiced, to serious health hazards. Objectives: This study was undertaken to assess the methods of storage of medicines at home, and disposal of unused and expired drugs. Methods: We used a prepiloted questionnaire posted on the net. The questionnaire includes questions on demographics of participants, whether they have a home pharmacy or cabinet, when and what they check their home pharmacy for, and the methods employed to dispose of expired drugs. Collected data were encoded and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 20, Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study variables using frequencies and percentages. Results: A total of 350 completely filled questionnaires were received back. Age of the majority (305, 87.7%) of the participants ranged between 18-44 years, and most (87.1%) of them were females, and have high school education (81.1%), and have home pharmacy, kept in the kitchen (49.4%) or bedroom (30.3%). About 60% of the participants assigned organization of the home pharmacy to son/ daughter. The average number of drugs stored at home is 14.3. About 50% they check the home pharmacy monthly (319, 91.1%) for expired medicines, and disposed of expired medicines by throwing in domestic waste. Conclusion: It is necessary to increase public’s awareness of proper methods of storage of drugs at home, and also the appropriate methods of disposal of expired drugs. Health authorities and pharmacists should collaborate to produce guides and a system of return-back leftover, unused, and also municipalities in every city can arrange for appropriate gross disposal of such drugs under the supervision of health authorities.