Abstract:

BACKGROUND

Good health is fundamental to improved quality of life, and the goal of promoting the health of rural community dwellers in Nigeria is critical in improving the quality of life of a vast majority of Nigerians who reside in rural communities. The objectives of this study were to determine the purpose for patronage of patent medicine shops; determine the reason(s) for preference for patent medicine shops to local health care centres; review the major challenges of patent medicine sellers or patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs); ascertain the level of uptake of cases in patent medicine shops compared to health centres; and to proffer a functional policy framework involving the patent and proprietary medicine vendors and shops to improve the quality and access to primary health care especially in rural communities in Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

This cross sectional pilot study made use of questionnaires containing semi structured questions, through direct one-on-one interviews, and information was obtained from both PPMVs and individuals who patronize their shops. This study was done in four rural communities of Delta State, Nigeria. Two major primary data sets and a secondary data set were generated. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 for windows software was used for analysis and a descriptive presentation of the data was given.

RESULTS

From a total of 51 patent medicine shop users, 21 (41.2%) males and 30 (58.8%), females, with mean age of 30.2 years, 35 (70.5%) patronize PPMVs to buy medicine, while 14 (27.5%) went for consultation and just one person went to buy condom.

Twenty two (43.1%) respondents claimed proximity to place of residence as a major reason for preference for PPMVs, 6 (11.8%), mentioned familiarity with PMS owners, 5 (9.8%) said there was no delay in receiving treatment. All but one of the 14 patent and proprietary medicine vendors that were interviewed was male, with a mean age of 36.43 years. Four (28.6%) PPMVs claimed there was no major challenge in their business, 3 (21.4%) mentioned financial constraint. A comparative look at the total attendance records of both patent medicine shops and the health centres revealed poor level of utilization of health centres.

CONCLUSION

Patent medicine shops are unique and very important in health care delivery especially in rural communities of Nigeria. There is need for a paradigm shift towards reorienting and integrating PPMVs and other related drug outlets into the mainstream primary health care delivery system. This will serve as an opportunity to improve the coverage and quality of the health system in Nigeria.

KEYWORDS

Access to health; Rural communities; Patent medicine sellers; Primary health care.

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