Self-Medication Practices Among University Students: A Case of Gilgit-Baltistan

Abstract

Self-medication the consumption of drugs without a doctor-prescription is now a serious interna-tional health-related issue. It is specifically worrying within the low-resource environments, where economic deprivation, lack of medical services, and social values promote informal care. This paper aims to explore how common, why, and why self-medication is among the students at Ka-rakoram International University (KIU) located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The cross-sectional quantitative survey was carried out with 181 students in different faculties. The SPSS v.23 was used to analyze the data through descriptive and Chi-square tests. The findings showed that most respondents engaged in self-medication (74.6 percent) and it was mainly due to colds and flu and headaches. The most common drugs were Panadol (34.3 percent), Paracetamol (27.1 percent), and Ponistan (13.3 percent). Preceding experience (42 percent), inaccessibility to healthcare (28.2 per-cent) and financial limitations (21 percent) were major motivations. Interestingly, 47 percent felt that antibiotics could heal viral infections and over half of them recommended self-medication. The results show that there exist deeply seated behavioral, cultural, and structural determinants of self-medication. The exclusive health-literacy programs and advocacy measures at the university, health communication related projects, and regulations of the medical policy, are in vital requisite to lessen perilous drug usage in Gilgit-Baltistan and other underserved districts.