Introduction and Promotion of the Use of Child-Resistant Packaging of Medicines in Taiwan

Abstract

Objective: Although the birth rate in Taiwan is declining due to many social reasons, the number of cases of accidental poisonings in young children is on the rise despite the availability of better medical facilities. The purpose of this project was to promote the safe use of medications and prevent accidental poisonings in children by introducing child-resistant packaging through integrated efforts of health care, education, and cultural and public media by the Tzu Chi organization to educate people and raise their awareness of child safety. Materials and Methods: By means of printed materials and electronic media, we explained to people why it is worthwhile using child-resistant drug packaging, and offered them home guidelines for child safety, methods to prevent children from taking drugs by mistake at home, and techniques of emergency treatment. We launched a program to promote the use of child-resistant packaging at the outpatient pharmacies of Dalin and Hualien Tzu Chi general hospitals in May 2002 to determine how it would be accepted. Statistics were applied to determine if any differences were achieved by the program. In order to extend the promotion, symposiums were held in different areas of Taiwan. Results: After presenting short briefing films, symposiums, and an actual package trial, we found that people accepted the concept with positive attitudes. Conclusions: Governments of Europe and the US are very keen about all possible measures used to prevent accidental drug poisoning in children. By widely educating people about common-sense approaches to such prevention, they have actually significantly reduced the incidental rate of accidents through R&D in and promotion of child-resistant packaging of drugs. However, in Taiwan, promotion of the use of child-resistant packaging has lagged behind that found in developed Western countries by almost 30 years. In the future when the practice of child-resistant packaging has become a nationwide reality in Taiwan, we plan to carry out another medium- to long-term project for evaluating the incidence and mortality rates of accidental child-poisonings before and after the introduction of the use of child-resistance packaging described in this study.