Abstract

Self-medication particularly with analgesics and antibiotics have been reported by WHO as
one of the major causes of antibiotic resistance. In country, like Uganda there is a wide range
of drugs, coupled with inadequate health services have resulted to an increased number of
drugs used as a self-medication compared to prescribed drugs. Assessment of knowledge
and practice of self-medication is needed especially in rural settings. This was an
anonymous, questionnaire-based, descriptive study. Questionnaires containing closed ended
questions were administered to 288 second year undergraduate medical students. Data
analysis was performed using STATA 14. Descriptive statistics were performed in terms of
frequencies and percentages. Statistical significance was assessed at alpha of 0.05. The
research results indicated that the mean age was (24) and the majority of the students
who participated in the study were male (63%). The prevalence of self-medication in the
study was found to be markedly high (83.4%). The most important reason for self-medication
was that it is cheaper (91%) and the majority (92%) of the students reported that they selfmedicated
because of diarrhea/vomiting with antacids found to be the highly used class of
drug (93%). Majority of the students got the information concerning the drugs through
advertisements (98%) and (92%) of the students bought medicine from drug shops. In conclusion, most of the students feared having the side effects of the medications since they were self-prescribed without any experience