The Prevalence and Community Perception of Therapeutic Injection Use in Meskan District, South Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Injections are popular forms of medication in most developing countries. There are reports concerning unnecessary injections and the risk of disease transmission through unsafe injection practices. However, there is little information on injection use or safety in Ethiopia. This study presents information on the extent of the use and popularity of injections in Meskan District of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional, communitybased study was carried out using a structured questionnaire to collect data at household level. Households were selected using probability proportionate to size sampling technique. A total of 700 households were included in the survey, of which 16.3% reported having a family member who was ill and sought modern health care in the month preceding the interview date. Out of 114 persons who visited modern health care institutions, 50% were treated with one or more injections. About 29% of respondents reported that they would prefer injections either alone or together with oral medications in case of any febrile illnesses. The use of therapeutic injection was high in the study area in spite of the fact that more than 85% of the respondents knew that HIV could be transmitted through unsafe injections. On the other hand, there was a gross lack of knowledge about transmission of HBV and HCV through the same route. Educational intervention programmes are needed to improve perception of the community towards injections. Further studies should attempt to find out the factors contributing to the high level of therapeutic injection use in Meskan District. Keywords: community perception, therapeutic injection, prevalence, cross-sectional, central Ethiopia Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Journal Vol. 25 (1) 2007: pp. 63-71