A cross-sectional study on perceptions towards safe disposal of unused/expired medicines and its associated factors among the public in Saudi Arabia—a threat to the environment and health
Our study reveals a positive perception of the safe disposal of used or expired medicines, but practice requires improvement. The initiatives to improve the safe disposal practice should be tailored based on gender, educational level, and occupational status. Patient education during medicine dispensing could be an appropriate intervention and can be done by the pharmacist. Introducing medicine waste collection programs or safe medicine disposal guidelines for the public in Saudi Arabia could effectively prevent potential environmental and health hazards.
Authors
- Abubakr Taha Hussein
- Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq Mantargi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3719-6241)
- Sivakumar Vijayaraghavalu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6770-6716)
- Vigneshwaran Easwaran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8688-4825)
- Krishnaraju Venkatesan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2853-5907)
- Sirajudeen Shaik Alavudeen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8160-4743)
- Noohu Abdulla Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3478-4566)
- Sultan M. Alshahrani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6194-7092)
- Khalid Mubarak Orayj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-2306)
- Saad Ali Alhadeer
- Abdulbari Ali Al Nazih
- Ibrahim Hadi Saeed Al Afraa
Institutions
- Manipur University (IN)
- King Khalid University (SA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PeerJ
- Published
- 2025-04-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.19258
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Healthcare and Environmental Waste Management
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.88