PMID- 15070866
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20040618
LR  - 20190513
IS  - 0268-1080 (Print)
IS  - 0268-1080 (Linking)
VI  - 19
IP  - 3
DP  - 2004 May
TI  - Interactions between patent medicine vendors and customers in urban and rural 
      Nigeria.
PG  - 177-82
AB  - Patent medicine vendors (PMVs) supply a large portion of the drugs used by the 
      public in African countries to treat their illnesses. Little has been reported 
      about what actually transpires between PMVs and their customers, but 
      nevertheless, concerns have been raised about the potential for abuse of their 
      position. This study conducted 720 observations of PMV-customer interaction in 
      444 medicine shops in both the metropolis of Ibadan and the rural town of 
      Igbo-Ora in Oyo State, Nigeria. Each interaction lasted 2 minutes on average. A 
      quarter of the customers shared their illness problems with the shop attendant, 
      9% presented a prescription and the majority simply requested items for purchase. 
      Most customers (73%) were buying drugs for themselves, while the remainder had 
      been sent to purchase for another person. The former were more likely to be 
      adults, while the latter were more often children and adolescents. The most 
      common PMV behaviours are: selling the requested medicine (69%), giving their own 
      suggestions to the customer (30%), asking questions about the illness (19%) and 
      providing instructions on how to take the medicine (21%). Only three referrals 
      were observed. The large number of specific drug requests was evidence of a 
      public that was actively involved in self-care, and thus the major role of the 
      PMV appeared to be one of salesperson meeting that need. A second role became 
      evident when the customer actually complained about his/her illness, a practice 
      associated with the more active PMVs who asked questions, gave suggestions and 
      provided information. These PMV roles can be enhanced through consumer education, 
      PMV training and policy changes to standardize and legitimize PMV contributions 
      to primary health care.
FAU - Brieger, William R
AU  - Brieger WR
AD  - Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns 
      Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. bbrieger@yahoo.com
FAU - Osamor, Pauline E
AU  - Osamor PE
FAU - Salami, Kabiru K
AU  - Salami KK
FAU - Oladepo, Oladimeji
AU  - Oladepo O
FAU - Otusanya, Sakiru A
AU  - Otusanya SA
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - Health Policy Plan
JT  - Health policy and planning
JID - 8610614
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Child
MH  - *Drug Industry
MH  - Female
MH  - Health Services Accessibility
MH  - Health Services Research
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Interpersonal Relations
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Nigeria
MH  - *Patents as Topic
MH  - Pharmaceutical Services
EDAT- 2004/04/09 05:00
MHDA- 2004/06/24 05:00
CRDT- 2004/04/09 05:00
PHST- 2004/04/09 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2004/06/24 05:00 [medline]
PHST- 2004/04/09 05:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1093/heapol/czh021 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Health Policy Plan. 2004 May;19(3):177-82. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czh021.