Consumer Organization and Community Education

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Consumer Organization and Community Education
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Session Overview

• Drug use situation at community level
• Role of the regulatory authority
• Role of consumers organization and other parties
• Problems in community education
• Innovative strategies in community education
• Discussion
• Lessons learnt

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Components of Drug Use System
Local
Drug Imports
Manufacture

Private Physician or
Hospital or
Pharmacist or
Other Practitioner
Health Center
Drug Trader
Public
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Problems at community level
Aggressive marketing
Misleading advertisement
Limited objective information
Too many drugs available
Price vs. quality

• Inadequate skills in critically assess
  information
• Inadequate skills on rational drug selection
• Weak awareness of the patient/consumer rights for
  information

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Role of regulatory authority?

• Price control
• Regulate advertisement
• Regulate distribution
• Quality assurance
• Community education
• Etc.

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Role of consumer organization?

• Public mobilization?
• Community empowerment?
• Watch dog to the regulatory authority?
• Community education?
• Etc.

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Other parties?

• Universities?
• Health facilities?
• NGOs
• Watch dog?
• Community education?

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Problems in community education

• Usually in the forms of mass campaigns (radio,
  TV, banner)
• Problem of dissemination and sustainability
• Impact is little in change of practices
• Knowledge awareness
• behavior?
• practices?
• Adverse impact is difficult to overcome

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Where Do Patients Get Medicines?
Drug promotion
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Promotion on drug use

• Direct promotion to consumer of even prescription
  drugs is common
• Advertisements always links brand names and
  symptoms/indications
• Consumers are very sensitive to some advertising
  messages

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Misleading promotion

• Exaggerated indications
• Create the needs for drugs
• Create the feelings of in danger
• Create illusive adverse effects and claim that
  the product does not have such effect
• Touch the mothers sensitive feelings about their
  children

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Misleading product information
Total protection from influenza
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Misleading product information
For the relief of pain and fever Increasing body
resistance
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Strategy in developing consumer education

• Focus on a particular problem
• Audience should be defined
• Targeted to change practices
• Use the most effective channels

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Example (1)Innovative community education
strategy

• USM-Malaysia
• (WHOCollaborating Center for Drug Information)
• Interactive Drug Information Services

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• Show internet connection to
  USM Drug Information Center

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6 Steps of effective community education
2. Plan activities
1. Investigate
3. Develop materials
5. Implement and Monitor Activities
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Example (2)Innovative community education
strategy

• Center for Clinical Pharmacology Drug Policy -
  GMU
• (WHOCollaborating Center for Research and
  Training on RDU)
• CBIA to improve the quality of self-medication

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CBIA

• Cara Belajar Ibu Aktif (Mothers Active
  Learning Method)
• A self-learning educational methods
• Designed as a small-group discussion format,
  using real drug packages as the training material
• Empower mothers to seek and critically assess
  information about the drugs they most commonly
  use
• Outcomes
• to increase the capability to select medicines
• to increase drug procurement efficiency in
  household

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Field test of CBIA
Design Controlled trial, pre post
assessment Volunteers 112 mothers, low to
moderate level of education
Group A CBIA Group B SEMINAR Group C CONTROL
Pre-assessment
Post-assessment

• Assessments
• The 5 main components of information
• Number of trade names consumed per month

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Results of field test
Tradenames consumed/month
Scores of knowledge Maximum 10
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• Show video of CBIA (10 minutes)

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Lessons learnt

• Mass campaign is important to create awareness,
  but has little impact on practices
• Consumer organizations are effective to mobilize
  people and create pressure for change
• Many parties should involve in community
  education
• Need focus educational modules to change
  practices
• Identify all possible effective communication
  channels
• Create information seeking behavior, not too rely
  on existing sources of information