Pattern of Drug Therapy in Home Management of Diarrhoea in Rural Communities of Nigeria

A prospective study was carried out in 72 rural communities in Nigeria to determine the pattern of drug therapy and other treatment modalities in case management of diarrhoea at home. The communities were selected using the cluster-sampling technique, and the survey was carried out using the standard methodology of WHO/CDD diarrhoea case management and morbidity. A total of 9,293 children aged less than 5 years were studied, of which 488 had diarrhoea in the preceeding 24 hours of the medical examination. Oral rehydration salts (ORS) solution and drugs were used by 20.1%, of the children ORS alone by 2.7%, home-based fluids alone by 21.7%, drugs and salt-sugar solution (SSS) by 31.8%, and drugs and other home-based fluids by 23.7%. The drug-use rate was 75.6%, and polypharmacy occurred in 56.9%. The injection-use rate was 18.4%. Antibiotics (40.3%), antiprotozoals (24.6%), and antidiarrhoeals (15.3%) were the main groups of drugs used. The government doctors, health workers, pharmacists, and patent medicine dealers were the main sources of prescription and supply of drugs. The village health workers, traditional birth attendants, and traditional doctors, who together provided significant proportion of these functions, are an important group requiring training.