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A Study on Awareness about Self Medication Practices among Working People in Kerala

The role and the importance of health care systems is well recognized in modern era both in terms of the quality of life and social welfare as well as every day individuals are practicing self-medication in the form of self-care for our health. Self-medication is a human behaviour in which, an individual uses medicines to treat self-diagnosed small or minor ailments. Prevalence of such practices is alarmingly high in developing countries like India. In India, any drugs not included in the list of ‘prescription-only’ drugs are considered as non-prescribed medicines or Over the Counter (OTC) drugs. Anyone can buy medicines for self-treatment from local medical shops, which are also available in supermarkets and other retail shops. Also such medicines include cough and cold remedies, sunscreens etc. The study mainly aims to find out the awareness of people in regarding the usage of OTC drugs and the factors affecting self-medication practices.